Journal of Genetic Disorders

Dr. Rashid Bashshur
Senior Advisor for eHealth, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, USA

Biography

Since the early 1970?s, I have been a catalyst for the development and evaluation of telemedicine systems in the U.S. and elsewhere While at the National Academy of Sciences (Institute of Medicine) from 1970 to 1972, I was consultant to the Office of Economic Opportunity on the use of telecommunications to support rural health programs. I organized the first two national meetings/workshops on telemedicine, whose proceedings were published as Telemedicine: Exploration in the Use of Telecommunications in Health Care (1975). In the late 1970?s, I was commissioned by the Indian Health Service and NASA to report on STARPAHC (Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Health Care), published as Technology Serves the People (1981) by the Government Printing Office. I have published extensively on telemedicine; I maintain an active speaking schedule, and I have worked with policy-makers at institutional, national and international levels. I was co-founder of the Telemedicine Journal, a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal, and Editor-in-Chief from 1995 to 2005, now Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. I was senior editor with Jay Sanders and Gary Shannon of, Telemedicine: Theory and Practice (1997) published by Charles Thomas. Most recently, I co-authored The History of Telemedicine, Evolution, Context and Transformation, with Gary Shannon, published by Mary Ann Liebert in 2009 with support from The National Library of Medicine. I have served as scientific program chair of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) Annual Meeting, 1997, and co-chair in 1998, 1999 and 2000. On May 2000, I was elected president to the ATA for a two-year term, now President-Emeritus. I was senior editor of three reports on telemedicine that were submitted to the U.S. Congress, 1994, 1995, and 2001. In January 2000, I chaired a WHO ?International Consultation? in Geneva aimed at developing a global strategy for telemedicine / telehealth / telematics. In August 2001, I co-chaired the International State-of-the-Art Symposium on Telemedicine/Telehealth, which was co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Health System and the World Health Organization, and supported by numerous federal agencies and private organizations. In May 2004, I chaired the Second International Conference on Future directions for Telemedicine, also supported by several federal agencies and private organizations. The proceedings from both conferences were published in the Telemedicine and eHealth journal. In 2013, I organized an invitational symposium on the sustaining and realizing the promise of telemedicine. Proceedings were published in Telemedicine and eHealth. In 2014, I was invited to provide testimony to a Congressional Committee, and I also presented findings from a literature synthesis for both House and Senate and CBO.

Research Interest

Psychology and Sociology