How do you connect the needs of researchers to the capabilities of technology? What are the main stages of research and the challenges faced at each stage? And will AI and machine learning speed up research and get solutions to market faster? We will learn those answers and more in this episode with Dr. Mark Hoffman, the Chief Research Information officer for Children's Mercy and the Children's Mercy Research Institute, a position he has held since 2016. Dr. Hoffman earned his doctorate in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He later joined Cerner as a software engineer where he advanced to the role of Vice President for Genomics and Research. Dr. Hoffman was also part of the faculty at the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) in the Departments of Biomedical and Health Informatics and Pediatrics. His formal training in research and experience in software development has prepared him to connect the needs of researchers to the capabilities of technology. His work is focused on identifying the best capabilities possible to meet rapidly changing requirements in genomics, public health, and big data. Dr. Hoffman is an inventor of 22 issued patents, a member of the American Academy of Inventors, a TED talk alumnus, and an award-winning healthcare product developer. You can learn more about Dr. Hoffman and Children's Mercy here: https://www.childrensmercy.org Learn more about Oracle for Researcher here: http://www.oracle.com/research

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Episode Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;26;02

What are the three main stages of research and the challenges each are facing? How are researchers handling the new federal policies around data sharing? And will AI and machine learning speed research and get solutions to market faster? We'll get those answers and more on this episode of Research in Action. Hello and welcome back to Research in Action, brought to you by Oracle for Research.

 

00;00;26;02 - 00;00;49;21

I'm Mike Stiles. And today our guest is Dr. Mark Hoffman, who is the Chief Research Information Officer for Children's Mercy and the Children's Mercy Research Institute. That's a position he's held since 2016. Dr. Hoffman earned his doctorate in bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and later joined Cerner as a software engineer, where he went on to be Vice President for genomics and research.

 

00;00;49;24 - 00;01;17;11

Dr. Hoffman was also part of the faculty at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and the Departments of Biomedical and Health Informatics and Pediatrics. Now, because he's had formal training and research and real-world experience in software development, he's kind of uniquely qualified to talk about what researchers need when it comes to technology. His work focuses on identifying the best capabilities to meet requirements in genomics, public health and big data that are always changing.

 

00;01;17;14 - 00;01;38;22

He's an inventor of 95 issued patents, a member of the American Academy of Inventors, a TED Talk alumnus, and an award-winning health care product developer. And honest to gosh, that's about the shortest intro I could come up with for someone who is so accomplished. So, we're glad you are with us today, Dr. Hoffman. Well, thanks, Mike. I look forward to talking with you.

 

00;01;38;24 - 00;02;05;06

Our audience is going to be particularly lucky that they decided to stream this episode because there's a lot to cover. But first of all, what got you into research to begin with? Kind of what led you to each step along the way to where you are now at Children's Mercy? Well, it's a long story, but, you know, I think as a kid, I was always curious and I enjoyed Legos and, you know, taking things apart.

 

00;02;05;06 - 00;02;36;00

And so, in hindsight, I see all the foundations. And that took me a while to realize that my interests are really split between doing science and building technologies. And so, I see myself as very fortunate to have a role that lets me keep one foot in each of those areas of interest. So, you went when you made the decision to go to Cerner and go into that software development world.

 

00;02;36;02 - 00;03;05;24

What inspired you to do that? It's interesting. When I was in graduate school studying bacteriology, I was funded by an NIH program that if you're in the life sciences, you were required to take coursework outside the life sciences. I chose to do that in computer science. And then the other requirement was you were required to do an industry internship one summer.

 

00;03;05;26 - 00;03;31;27

Most of my peers chose to do that in pharma. I chose instead to do my internship at a software development company that does bioinformatics software development. Realized how much I liked that type of work and building things that get used in the real world. It's funny, but to this day, some of the features that I developed are still part of their application suite.

 

00;03;31;27 - 00;04;04;27

So, I learned from that that I enjoy the software and technology and development process. When there was the opportunity to join Cerner as a software engineer. I jumped at it and happened to be in their microbiology product line, so I was able to talk with the clients about what they were struggling with in the lab, understand that, and then translate that into whatever changes were needed in the software.

 

00;04;05;00 - 00;04;26;28

Did you expect that to be the case that you would be able to keep a foot in both sides on both the technology and the research side? Or was that something like you never thought that could happen? I didn't plan it this way, but I feel very fortunate that I'm able to exercise so many of my different interests.

 

00;04;27;00 - 00;05;12;19

So obviously children's mercy benefits from your professional expertise, but behind that you've got a real personal commitment and passion for the work that you're doing that kind of increases your value even more. If you're willing, tell us about that personal connection. And just in general, both Cerner and Children's Mercy are based in Kansas City. And as a parent, while I was working at Cerner, over time, both of our children have needed inpatient care at Children's Mercy Hospital and just the compassion and caring and quality of care and the creativity that we often saw with some of our children's physicians.

 

00;05;12;22 - 00;05;55;21

The willingness to keep trying things until they could help our kids work through their different health concerns has made a huge impression on me. Now, when I walk through the hospital and see parents with their kids who are going through really some of the most difficult situations you ca