Andi Saptono is an assistant professor within the University of Pittsburgh Department of Health Information Management (HIM). During his time at Pitt, he has devoted himself to various interprofessional research projects and the development of both the undergraduate and graduate Health Informatics programs.
Read on to learn more about Saptono’s passion for the field of health informatics, his research interests and how students can participate in his research.
Role Within Pitt Health Informatics
I first came to Pitt as a student in the HIM master’s degree program. I joined the faculty in 2015, so I have now been part of Pitt HIM for some time. Having gone through the program myself as a student gives me a helpful perspective when we need to identify the challenges that students have and to work on a solution for ensuring their success in the program.
In the Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics program, I teach database management in health care. In the graduate program, I teach and coordinate the courses Foundations of Health Informatics, Database Design and Big Data, and Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence (AI). I also coteach Practical Statistics and Programming Using R.
I also work with the graduate students on a newly revised capstone project course. We are revising this course to give students a more structured capstone project journey, so I am excited about offering this course soon. We tried to include as many real-world health and health care challenges possible to solve, including the use of open-source electronic health records, such as OpenEMR and integrating AI to solve usability issues.
Additionally, I serve as the vice director for data analytics for the department. In this role, I help analyze our internal program data to support decisions related to the management of the program, initiatives within the program and support technology infrastructure assessment and development.
Teaching Style
I am a hands-on instructor. I try to use a flipped classroom format when possible, where I introduce the material before class and then use class time for hands-on, practical work with that material.
In many technical courses that I teach, the only way for us to learn is to learn from our mistakes. So, I want to create an environment where students can safely make as many mistakes as possible where I can assist and guide them in discovering the solutions to those problems. This way, I am hoping that students will be able to build their own internal instincts to identify and recover from errors even before the errors happen.
I am passionate about teaching because I enjoy connecting with people and helping them succeed. Before joining academia, I worked as a consultant and that experience shaped how I think about my career. Connecting with people and helping them succeed is what motivates me in this work.
Passion for Health Informatics
My training is in information technology engineering and computer science. I wanted to apply that knowledge to a specific domain, and in the early 2000s, I noticed that health care had not had much technology applied to it. There was also a push from the government to make health information more meaningful. This combination led me toward health informatics, with the goal of helping shift health care from a reactive model, often joked as “sick care,” toward something more proactive, achieving our vision of “health care.”
When I see people achieve their health goals, it motivates me to continue with research and education in this area. Health care continues to change, and the use of health technology has grown in response to that. For example, people are more comfortable using digital health technology, such as connecting to clinicians via telehealth or wearing smartwatches to monitor their health nowadays when compared to the time prior to the pandemic. The growth and hype of generative AI is also having a significant impact on health care, including areas like symptom assessment and patient encounters. AI can serve as a tool or agent within these processes. So, how can we “leverage” these advancements in technology and bring them into our health journey? I find this development meaningful to work on.
What Sets Pitt Health Informatics Apart
As technology has advanced, it has become clear that properly implementing and integrating health information technology can improve efficiency in HIM. There is a growing need to analyze health care data, and that need is part of what led our program to shift toward health informatics. We were the first program to make that shift and the first to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM) as a health informatics program. We continue to work on developments in digital health and AI.
Pitt Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics (BSHI) is the First in Country to Receive Accreditation
The designation by the CAHIIM makes Pitt the first undergraduate health informatics program in the U.S. to be accredited.
Read the full storyA key strength of our program is our faculty, who are active researchers, which means our students graduate with knowledge and familiarity with the latest, cutting-edge advancement in current developments within the field. As such, we are not teaching something that will become obsolete when the students graduate; we are teaching the students to be ready for future opportunities in health informatics.
Research Interests
My research focuses on digital health and information technology for health care.
In one of my current active projects, we develop technology to support parents of children with Down syndrome. We provide a way for them to track the behavior of their children and record what works and does not work as they learn and strategize the best care for their children. In many situations, parents or caregivers are expected to become an instant “expert” in highly stressful health events. As such, we are investigating how we can further expand our tracker to include, potentially, AI to bridge and make this experience smoother.
Healthier Routines Help Children with Down Syndrome Thrive
Researchers at SHRS are finding ways to help families develop healthy routines that support the needs of children with Down syndrome so they grow up healthier and are better able to thrive in the adult world.
Read the full storyWe also work in other health fields as well, including the development of a tool to help clinicians measure the capacity of individuals with disabilities to use mobile health applications to track Raynaud’s condition and its underlying causes. We are also developing an integrated digital health solution to assist individuals with spinal cord injuries in their health journey.
I became interested in these topics because I recognized that I, and everyone that I care about, will experience some form of disability ourselves as we age. Working with people with disabilities and people with chronic conditions or special needs allows me to develop solutions that support people more broadly as they age. I am very interested in working to help people continue to do the things they want to do, which hopefully would include me as well!
Students in the graduate and undergraduate Health Informatics programs are able to participate in my research. I currently have undergraduate and graduate students working with me on a capstone project connected to an AI research initiative. Our lab, the Health and Rehabilitation Informatics (HARI) Lab, always has topics and ideas available for students if they are interested in participating in our research as well.
Other Roles at Pitt
I built the technology behind the mentorship program’s website, which supports the process of connecting mentors and mentees. During the time I was a student, I always wanted to connect with alumni of the program to build a network of connections for my future. This is why I jumped in to develop the backbone for the mentorship program for our students.
In addition to my faculty responsibilities, I also serve as the student advisor for the Pitt Indonesian Student Association. We have many events that students can explore if they are interested in the Indonesian culture!
Fulfillment at Pitt
I enjoy working with students and faculty here. Looking back at my experience as a student at Pitt myself, I would encourage students to explore as many opportunities as possible in participating in research, studies and communities within Pitt. Building networks allows us to be aware of opportunities for future endeavors. Pitt also has extensive support for building innovations, and if students are interested in innovating, there is always something to tap into here.
Fun Facts
I enjoy building Lego. The process of building a Lego structure has some similarity to how solutions are developed in health informatics where we need to work through parts one at a time, which is part of why I enjoy it. Not to mention that I can build whatever comes to my mind with the spare parts.
