Investigator, Assoc Prof (M) Laboratory of Computer Science, Mass General Research Institute

Associate Professor of Medicine, Part-time Harvard Medical School

computers handheld; decision support systems clinical; diagnosis computer-assisted; diagnostic support; dxplain; educational informatics; expert systems; medical informatics; medical informatics applications; occult blood

Edward Hoffer, MD, has spent his professional career combining clinical practice with cutting-edge research in the area of medical informatics.

His work in medical informatics began during formal training with the Massachusetts General Hospital Laboratory of Computer Science, during which he developed a computer-based program to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Upon completion of his fellowship, he was appointed to faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Hoffer’s early work with LCS focused on using computers for teaching purposes. He developed a library of educational software that was distributed both via links to the LCS computers and as a disk-based series by Williams and Wilkins. This innovative series was well-reviewed in medical literature. He also developed the software to automate the interpretation of pulmonary function tests and to provide the backbone of the MGH Anticoagulant Clinic. This work led to peer recognition by election to Fellowship in the American College of Medical Informatics.

For the past twenty years, Dr. Hoffer’s major contributions have been in the development, maintenance, testing and expansion of DXplain, a diagnostic decision-support system. This program has been extensively used at Harvard Medical School, medical schools around the country, by practicing physicians, and by institutions around the world. He is currently leading efforts to expand the role of diagnostic decision support by integrating it into electronic medical record systems.

Dr. Hoffer earned his SB from MIT and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and completed his residency training in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to his work in medical informatics, he maintained a clinical practice of Cardiology and Internal Medicine in Framingham. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard, performing ward rounds, delivering lectures, and conducting case conferences. He has taught both physicians and the lay public through formal Grand Rounds and public lectures, focusing on his clinical areas of interest in atrial fibrillation and geriatric cardiology. He has also contributed via committee work and leadership roles at the hospital, state and national levels.