Ferdinand Velasco, M.D.
As Texas Health’s chief health information officer, Dr. Ferdinand Velasco leads the system’s functions responsible for clinical decision support, medical informatics, nursing informatics, research informatics, electronic health record reporting, clinical analytics, and quality measurement. Through his and his team's leadership of the implementation of the electronic health record, Texas Health was awarded the Enterprise Davies Award for Excellence in 2013 and has achieved HIMSS EMRAM Stage 7. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Velasco is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of the Clinical Informatics Center at UT Southwestern.
Prior to joining Texas Health Resources in 2002, Dr. Velasco served as an assistant professor and physician champion for the implementation of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He simultaneously practiced as a cardiothoracic surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
A Fellow of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), Dr. Velasco served on the North America Board of HIMSS and chaired the society’s Quality, Cost, Safety Committee. Modern Healthcare honored Dr. Velasco as an inaugural member of the Top 25 Clinical Informaticists in Healthcare. He received his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.