Personal Statement
I am a medical graduate (MBBS) and have done masters in computer science. I feel ‘medical imaging informatics' is a growing, exciting and challenging field. Specifically, imaging applications in medical sciences are very dynamic and intellectually stimulating. This field needs people who can “dedicate their life to the clinical implications based on research oriented scientific approach”. I want to be a part of this revolution, to be able to contribute innovative ideas for its applications.
During my training years in medical college, the dynamic and innovative nature of medical informatics appealed me greatly and made computing a charm. The satisfaction of actually using computer networks for speedy medical services was beyond description. From that moment on, I realized that this is perhaps the fastest growing field related to medicine that would bring not evolution but a revolution in medical education, diagnosis, therapeutics and beyond. My increasing thirst to learn computing droved me to take admission in two-years masters program for computer sciences (MCS). This polished my capabilities in computing and I explored myself academically outstanding among other master students. That is why I was awarded academic merit scholarships by the university.
In July 2003, I joined Aga Khan University hospital as 'Faculty of Health Sciences - IT Coordinator' in Information Systems Department. I worked there for the analysis and coordination of in-house developed clinical systems and web applications. It further helped me practically experience the physician-computer interaction during the whole developmental life cycle of clinical systems. Examples are Web applications for Post Graduate Medical Education (PGME), Patient care Inquiry system (PCI) and Health net(an information portal) .Please refer to CV for IT projects details.
After in-depth exposure in information systems department, I was assigned a challenging task of coordination for PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) implementation. It is then in October 2004, I was designated as 'PACS & IT Coordinator' by the department of radiology . I worked with a team of biomedical engineers, system vendor, software engineers, finance department, and physicians for implementation of CR (Computed Radiography) and PACS. With team effort, I technically coordinated the activity for integration of RIS (Radiology Information System), CR and PACS by using HL7, DICOM and IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) standards for imaging. Beside PACS implementation, I also initiated new informatics projects. Some of them are Radiology Electronic Teaching File Indexing, Implementation of Medical Image Resource Center (MIRC) , DICOM Viewer application in MATLAB, Voice Recognition System for reporting, 3-Dimensional Anatomy Models for undergraduate medical education, Workshops (Image manipulation in medicine , etc), Presentations in National & International events and a radiology website (intranet). I would like to mention here that some of the above projects were initiated on volunteer basis.
After successful completion of phase-1 of PACS implementation, I opted for my career in Medical Imaging (Radiology) department as 'Senior Coordinator IT and Digitization' from January 2006. The department being the most modern in Pakistan , is truly a best place for experiencing imaging informatics in practice. Here, my job focuses on analysis and coordination for PACS implementation; Web applications development; and development of educational modules using multimedia technologies. Here I have been assigned a responsibility of making complete transition to digitized environment with special focus on Radiologists and Educational project. So far in first quarter of 2006, I have initiated development of Electronic signature in RIS and Physicians training for digital workflow using IHE as guideline.
It is with this resolve that I am pursuing my career medical imaging informatics to further the boundaries of application, research and management.