The Information Systems Society of Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) has named Ritu Agarwal of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business a 2013 Distinguished Fellow for her outstanding intellectual contributions to the information systems field.
Agarwal, professor and the Robert H. Smith Dean’s Chair of Information Systems, and founding director of the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS), received the honor during the recent annual meeting of INFORMS, the world’s largest professional society for operations research.
“This award is given yearly to just a few scholars and further distinguishes Ritu Agarwal as a globally respected leader in the field of information systems,” said Smith School Associate Dean for Faculty and Research Michael Ball, a 2004 INFORMS Fellow. “Her contributions to advancing understanding of the role of IT have been especially vital to the health care industry.”
Agarwal, a 2011-2012 University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, also was reappointed for a second, two-year term as editor-in-chief of Information Systems Research (ISR), INFORMS’ leading international journal focused on information systems in organizations, institutions, the economy and society.
Agarwal is one of the most widely-cited scholars in the field, with 90-plus articles published in such journals as ISR, MIS Quarterly, Management Science and Health Affairs. Her current research is focused on the role of IT in transforming health care and improving quality, efficiency and safety, healthcare analytics, and individual behavior in technology-mediated settings.
Several Fortune 500 companies have tapped Agarwal exclusively for various research and consulting projects, and federal agencies have sponsored her research and relied on her testimony on issues related to healthcare and IT.
In 2010, she initiated the annual Workshop on Health Information Technology and Economics (WHITE) pushing UMD and Smith to the forefront of transforming the health care industry. The 2013 event, scheduled for Nov. 15-16 in Washington, D.C., will explore issues related to the effectiveness of recently launched state health insurance exchanges and involve discussion of the key role of patient engagement in driving healthcare transformation.
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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in business education and cutting-edge research. The school’s world-class faculty facilitate experiential learning opportunities rooted in the real world. Smith students learn to think like entrepreneurs, prepared to drive positive impact. The school offers undergraduate, online and on-campus business master's, full-time, part-time, online and executive MBA, plus PhD and DBA degree programs, and non-degree and executive education programs. Where Smith leads, the future follows.