Professor Jane Grimson - Research Engineer , Trinity College, Dublin , Ireland
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Professor Jane Grimson obtained her batchelors degree in Engineering from
Trinity College Dublin and her Masters and Doctorate in Computer Science form
the Universities of Toronto and Edinburgh. She joined the Department of Computer
Science in Trinity College Dublin as a lecturer in 1980 where she is now an
Associate Professor. She was Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Systems
Sciences from 1996 to 1999. She has published over 80 papers in journals and
the proceedings of international conferences, and has co-authored a textbook
on Distributed Database Systems published by Addison-Wesley. Her main research
interests are in distributed information systems and health informatics. She
has acted as principal investigator on several EU and national research projects.
She established the Knowledge and Data Engineering Research Group in the Department
of Computer Science and also, together with colleagues from the Faculty of
Health Sciences, the Centre for Health Informatics in Trinity College. She
is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the British Computer Society, Irish
Computer Society, Institution of Engineers of Ireland, Irish Academy of Engineering,
and the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland and a member of ACM and IEEE.
She is a member of the European Research Advisory Board, the Irish Council
for Science, Engineering and Technology and of the Executive Board of the
European Science Foundation. She is a President of the Irish Computer Society
and the Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland, and a past President of
the Institution of Engineers of Ireland and of the Irish Academy of Engineering.
Research
My current research is in the area of Health Informatics, specifically Electronic Healthcare Records and system integration. Other areas of interest include Federated Database Systems, Decision Support and multi-media user interfaces. I was co-founder of the inter-displinary Centre for Health Informatics, which am currently Director. I am also a member of the Knowledge and Data Engineering Group.
I was Project Manager of the Synapses Project funded by the EU Telematics Applications for Health Programme and am involved in the follow-on project, SynEx . Under the Synapses project we developed a Federated Healthcare Records Server which allowed client applications to request healthcare records (or parts of records) and related medical data about individidual patients irrespective of where that source data is stored. The Synapses server makes use of federated database managament system technology and uses an active dictionary to drive the interaction between client, server and source data systems (referred to as feeder systems). An important underpinning philosophy of Synapses is to preserve investment in existing legacy systems.
Another major project, Medilink was an interdisplinary, inter-institutional research programme in Health Informatics funded by the Irish Department of Education and Science under the Higher Education Authority's Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions. Medilink was a joint project with the Dublin Institute of Technology and on the Trinity side involves both the Departments of Computer Science and Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.
Current projects include Ait Eile, a virtually community for children in hospital and Solas, an extension of Ait Eile for children who spend long periods in isolation.
A new research interest is in the area of ICT4D i.e. the effective use of Information and Communications Technology in the developing countries with a particular focus on health and higher education.
Publications
Professional activities
I am an active member of a number of professional organisations including the Engineers Ireland (formerly the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, IEI), the Irish Computer Society (ICS) and the Health Informatics Society of Ireland. I was President of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland from 1999-2000, of the Irish Computer Society from 2000 - 2004 and President of the Health Informatics Society of Ireland from 1999 - present. I am committed to the integration of software engineering into the mainstream of the engineeering profession and have worked with both the IEI and the ICS to promote this approach within Ireland. I also have a particular interest in promoting engineering generally as a career among young women and currently chair a committee in the Department of Education and Science aimed at increasing the participation of girls in careers in Science, Engineering and Technology.
I chair the Irish Research Council in Science Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) and am a member of the board of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), of the Executive Board of the European Science Foundation (ESF) and of the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB).
I am also a member of the Board of the Adelaide and Meath Hospitals, Dublin Incorporating the National Children's Hospital (AMNCH) and of Alexandra College.
Courses
I am currently teaching on the Diploma/MSc in Health Informatics. :
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Last updated: 13 December 2005
