Through mutually-beneficial partnerships, CHIDS is structured as a research and development center with the goal of conducting rigorous research, disseminating information, managing knowledge, and coordinating collaborations among concerned stakeholders. In addition, CHIDS serves as a focal point for thought leadership around the topic of health information and decision systems.

Drawing on the expertise of the Decision and Information Technologies (D&IT) department at The Smith School, the University of Maryland Medical Center, University Hospital, and other assets in the University of Maryland network, CHIDS offers the benefit of a world-class staff with hundreds of published manuscripts related to technology implementation, adoption, assimilation, workflow design, decision sciences, and value of IT. The D&IT department includes Information Systems, Operations Management, and Management Science disciplines and is staffed with over 30 professors and more than 30 PhD students and research assistants. The pool of talent, knowledge, and expertise in D&IT is acknowledged by several publications as a Top-5 performer in research production worldwide. The Information Systems group is ranked in the top-10 worldwide in Business Week and U.S. News and World Report.