Edward H. Shortliffe

Edward Hance Shortliffe
Born1947 (age 78–79)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Other nameTed
EducationHarvard University
Stanford University
Known forMYCIN, Biomedical informatics
Websitewww.shortliffe.net

Edward ("Ted") Hance Shortliffe (born 1947) is a Canadian-born American biomedical informatician, physician, and computer scientist. Shortliffe is a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence in medicine. He was the principal developer of the clinical expert system MYCIN, one of the first rule-based artificial intelligence expert systems, which obtained clinical data interactively from a physician user and was used to diagnose and recommend treatment for severe infections. His research has focused on artificial intelligence in medicine and biomedical informatics education.

He is also regarded as a founder of the field of biomedical informatics, and in 2006 received one of its highest honors, the Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence given by the American College of Medical Informatics.

In July 2009, Shortliffe assumed a position as president and chief executive officer of the American Medical Informatics Association, an organization that he helped to form between 1988 and 1990 when he was President of the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care.

Early life and education

Shortliffe was born in Alberta and moved to the United States with his parents.

He attended Loomis School (now Loomis Chaffee School) in Connecticut and later an exchange student year at Gresham's School in the United Kingdom.

Shortliffe graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1970 with an A.B. in applied mathematics (computer science). He subsequently attended Stanford University, earning a Ph.D. in Medical Information Sciences in 1975 an M.D. in 1976. He enrolled in the Medical Scientist Training Program and won a Grace Murray Hopper Award from the Association for Computing Machinery.

Career

Stanford University

After completing residency training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Stanford Hospital between 1976 and 1979, Shortliffe joined the Stanford University faculty in General Internal Medicine.

At Stanford, he became director of the Medical Information Sciences Training Program from 1982 till 2000.

In 1980, he established one of the earliest formal graduate training programs in biomedical informatics at Stanford University.[citation needed]

Columbia University

In 2000, Shortliffe joined Columbia University as chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics. He also served as deputy vice president of Columbia University Medical Center, senior associate dean for strategic information resources, professor of medicine, professor of computer science, and director of medical informatics services for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

University of Arizona and Arizona State University

In March 2007, Shortliffe became the founding dean of the Phoenix campus of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, which was created as a collaborative effort between the University of Arizona and Arizona State University (ASU). At ASU he was also appointed as a Professor of Biomedical Informatics.

American Medical Informatics Association

In July 2009, Shortliffe became president and chief executive officer of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).

Research and contributions

Shortliffe served as Editor-in-Chief of a leading biomedical informatics scientific journal (Journal of Biomedical Informatics) from 2001 to 2020.

Publications

Shortliffe is the author or co-author of more than 350 scientific publications and several books.

Selected books

Honors

References

  1. 1 2 Greenes, R. A.; Buchanan, B. G.; Ellison, D. (2007). "Presentation of the 2006 Morris F. Collen Award to Edward H. (Ted) Shortliffe". Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 14 (3): 376–85. doi:10.1197/jamia.M2374. PMC 2244891. PMID 17557382.
  2. ↑ 1. Rule-Based Expert Systems: The MYCIN Experiments of the Stanford Heuristic Programming Project -(edited by Bruce G. Buchanan and Edward H. Shortliffe; ebook version http://www.aaaipress.org/Classic/Buchanan/buchanan.html )
  3. ↑ "Edward Shortliffe, MD, PhD, MACP, FACMI, FIAHSI | AMIA - American Medical Informatics Association". amia.org. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
  4. ↑ "Professor to lead national biomedical organization". ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
  5. 1 2 "Shortliffe, Edward". About us. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
  6. 1 2 3 "Edward Shortliffe Homepage". impact.dbmi.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
  7. 1 2 "Shortliffe-Biosketch.pdf" (PDF). Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  8. 1 2 "Faculty excellence | Arizona State University". www.asu.edu. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
  9. ↑ "Shortliffe takes reins of AMIA as president, CEO". www.modernhealthcare.com. Retrieved 2026-06-22.
  10. ↑ "Awards - Past Winners | AMIA". Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)