Boyd Knosp, MS

Associate Director for Biomedical Informatics Operations

Associate Dean for Information Technology, Carver College of Medicine

Personal Statement

As Associate Director of Informatics Operations for the ICTS, I oversee the implementation of ICTS’s vision for informatics. I have provided leadership for informatics and IT service delivery for over 30 years and lead a team that focuses on developing new informatics tools and delivering state of the art informatics services.

I have sponsored the creation of a clinical research data warehouse (CRDW) and its connection with new local sources of data (e.g. our biobank and Axium) and with external data sources (PCORnet and TriNeTX) and am working to connect the CRDW with data sources across Iowa (rural clinics, personal health data, and genomics data sources).

I championed the adoption of SPARC as a service management tool for ICTS and serve on the SPARC open-source steering committee. I’ve also lead the development of maturity models to help academic institutions better understand and plan their investments in IT and informatics. As Associate Dean for IT in the Carver College of Medicine, I serve as an advocate for ICTS and broker key services with enterprise IT units in health care and the university.

Education

  • BS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Iowa, 1983
  • MS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Iowa, 1984

Positions

  • Associate Director for Biomedical Informatics Operations, the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (2012 - Present)
  • Associate Dean for Information Technology, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (2008 - Present)
  • Manager, ITS Research Services, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (2001 - 2008)
  • University Image Analysis Facility, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (1985 - 2001)

Professional Memberships

  • Co-director, AAMC GIR Leadership Institute (2016 - 2018)
  • Chair AAMC Group on Information Resources Steering Committee (2014 - 2015)
  • Member AAMC Group on Information Resources Steering Committee (2013 - 2016)
  • Faculty, AAMC Group on Information Resources Leadership Institute (2012 - 2014, 2016)
  • Chair, AAMC Group on Information Resources Educational Technology Working Group (2011 - 2013)
  • Member, AAMC Group on Information Resources Education Technology Working Group (2010 - 2013)
  • Co-founder/Co-leader of Educause Health Science IT Constituent Group (2011 - 2014)
  • Seminar instructor, “Community Based decision making”, Educause National Conference (2008 - 2014)
  • Member, Educause Campus Cyberinfrastructure Initiative (2005 - 2008)

Contribution to Science

Establishing a computer visualization and imaging resource

Early in my career, my focus was on applying technology to scientific problems–working with image analysis technologies to explore and implement algorithms to measure structural and functional properties of scientific samples and using computer graphics methods to visualize structures from 3D image-capture systems ranging from confocal microscopy to clinical imaging systems to seismic explorations.

My first position was to create and direct the University of Iowa image analysis facility, a core campus research facility, which developed and implemented a number of new and novel technologies to campus researchers including volume rendering, molecular modeling, 3D modeling, and 3D printing.  As director of this facility, I developed a number of service models that adapted to changes in technology and changes in grant funding. The impact of this facility was cross-campus and supported hundreds of projects each year from 1986-2001.

  1. Rummest V, Gardner L, Folberg R, Beck S, Knosp B, Moninger T, Moore K.  Three-dimensional relationships between tumor cells and microcirculation with double cyanine immunolabeling, laser scanning confocal microscopy, and computer-assisted reconstruction: An alternative to cast corrosion preparations.  J Histochemistry and Cytochemistry 42(5):681-686, 1994.
  2. Damasio H, Grabowski T, Frank R, Knosp B, Hichwa R, Watkins G, Boles Ponto L.  A technique for neuroanatomical analysis of positron emission tomography images.  Annals of Nuclear Medicine 7 1993.
  3. Knosp B, Weiss R.  Volume visualization and cardiac research.  Advanced Imaging 5(7), 1990.
  4. McPherson DD, Knosp B, Kieso RA, Bean JA, Kerber RE, Skorton DJ, Collins SM. Ultrasound characterization of acoustic properties of acute intracardiac thrombi: studies in a new experimental model.  J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 1988 Jul-Aug;1(4):264-70.

Developing cyber infrastructure for University of Iowa

In 2001, I moved into central IT support for research and oversaw the campus’s research services.  Here I focused on developing our campus’s cyber infrastructure (especially data centers, data storage, and establishing connections with national cyber infrastructure projects such as the Physics Grid and the Open Science Grid. This required helping build shared services across higher education research centers.

  1. B. Knosp, T. Carvalho, T. Hanns, L. Hitch, D. Kerian, P. Murray, K. Percival, M. Reveil, P. Shah, D. Walker, S. Yagi. Publication: Cyberinfrastructure Advisory Framework Net@EDU Campus Cyberinfrastructure Working Group White Paper. http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/cyberinfrastructure-advisory-framework
  2. K. Jelinkova, T. Carvalho, D. Kerian, B. Knosp, K. Percival, and S. Yagi Publication: Creating a Five-Minute Conversation About Cyberinfrastructure EDUCAUSE Quarterly May 2008
  3. J. Ni, T. He, G. Wang, S. Wang, and B. Knosp, Scenario of Application Layers for Grid-enhanced International Digital Library in Medical Imaging, The 2005 International Conference on Grid Computing and Applications (GCA'05), The 2005 World Congress in Applied Computing, Las Vegas, June, 2005, (GCA’05), ISBN 1-932415-57-2, CSREA Press, 2005
  4. Knosp B, Wang S, Ni J, Grid-based Volume Rendering, Presented at the International Conference of Supercomputing 2002, Baltimore, MD, USA, 16-22, November, 2002 (CD ROM).

Introducing change management methods to the University of Iowa and academic IT community

Creating new infrastructure and services required change in our organization, so I developed change management methodologies that I used to build consensus regarding what solutions were needed on campus. These methodologies (called “community-based decision making”) are based on the idea that buy-in from key stakeholders (especially faculty researchers) is critical to the success of any new or changing service.

  1. B. Knosp, M. Jesse. EDUCAUSE 2014 Seminar 2A “Effective Change-management methods to drive Educational transformation”; Orlando, FL 9/29/14. http://alturl.com/svt34
  2. B. Knosp, S. Malo, M. Jesse. EDUCAUSE 2012 Face-to-Face Meeting Seminar 02A – “Applying Community-Based Decision Making on Your Campus” Denver, 10/12/2012
  3. B. Knosp, M. Jesse. 2011 Information Technology in Academic Medicine Conference, “Community based decision making, pre-conference leadership seminar”, Miami, FL June 2011
  4. B. Knosp, M. Jesse, M. Langstaff. EDUCAUSE 2009 Seminar 05P “Community based decision making – a method for engaging the campus to build consensus across a broad range of stakeholders”, Denver, October 2009.

Developing IT service models for academic medicine

Since 2008 I have focused on IT and informatics services for academic medical centers - working with creating service catalogs and elevating the level of service management in the Carver College of Medicine. In this role, I have worked with colleagues in the Association of American Medical Colleges and Educause to develop tools (maturity indexes and deployment indexes) for better understanding the IT service models for academic medical centers.

  1. Knosp, B. Barnett, W. Embi, P. Anderson, N. “Maturity Models for Research IT and Informatics – Reports from the Field”, panel at 2017 AMIA Joint Summits. San Francisco, CA. 3/30/17.   
  2. Knosp, B. “Using Data to Inform Your IT Investments – Research”, invited presentation at 2016 AAMC Principal Business Officer’s meeting. Vancouver, BC, CA. 9/23/16.
  3. Knosp, B. Barnett, W. “Maturity and Deployment Indexes in Medical Research Technology”, presentation at 2016 AAMC Information Technology in Academic Medicine Conference, Toronto, Ontario, CA. 6/1/16.
  4. Calzada, J. Knosp, B. Mantia, J. “Maturity and Deployment Indexes in Medical Education Technology”, presentation at 2015 AAMC Information Technology in Academic Medicine Conference, San Diego, CA. 6/4/2015.

Developing improved informatics services for ICTS

Since 2012 I have worked with our Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences to establish better service operations. In this role, I have created a service catalog for our informatics core and leveraged emerging campus resources to improve the core’s underlying infrastructure.  My work has included adding new services such as our bio-sample tracking database, implementing the SPARC service ordering system and leveraging data in the UI Hospitals and Clinics Epic medical record.

  1. UI Bioshare Website
  2. I-CART Website (SPARC implementation at Iowa)
  3. TriNetX Website

Publications

Contact Information:

Boyd Knosp, MS