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Hire Dr. Michael B.

United States

USD 300 /hr

Director of Evaluation | Biomedical Informatics & Data Analytics Leader, AI & Public Health

Profile Summary

As the Director of Evaluation and Performance Management at Weill Cornell Medicine's Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), I am a seasoned biomedical informatics expert and data scientist with over 15 years of experience. My work centers on driving growth and continuous quality improvement in healthcare and research organizations through data-driven insights and strategic initiatives. I am recognized for my dedication, strategic thinking, and ability to inspire effective teamwork, responding flexibly to institutional needs. My expertise spans a broad range of methodologies and technologies, including: • Data Analytics and Reporting: I leverage data to optimize operations, enhance decision-making, and lead strategic initiatives that improve organizational efficiency and overall impact. • Biomedical Informatics Solutions: My background includes developing and evaluating biomedical information systems and software, and I am adept at translating best practices in evaluation into academic environments. • Program Evaluation and Development: I have extensive experience designing, implementing, and overseeing evaluation procedures for complex programs, identifying data sources, tracking progress, and recommending corrective actions. • Interdisciplinary Team Leadership: I am a certified Data and Software Carpentries Instructor and have served as Course Director for "Science of Team Science: Practical Approaches to Working Effectively in Scientific Teams," fostering effective collaboration among researchers. • Specialized Methodologies: My analytical toolkit includes social network analysis, natural language processing (NLP), data visualization, geographic information systems (GIS), epidemiology, biostatistics, and medical terminologies. • Advanced Technologies: I have strong experience with artificial intelligence (AI), including recent work with Large Language Models (LLMs) and VertexAI for enhancing reporting and uncovering predictors of success in research awards. My interests extend to applying deep learning methods to advance the study of team-based collaborative scientific work. My proficiency with programming languages and software includes: • Languages & Standards: Python, Java, SQL, XML, R, HTML, CSS, JavaScript. • Software: Vertex AI, Power BI, Eclipse, SAS, SPSS, Stata, MATLAB, MapInfo, ArcView, Gephi, Cytoscape, GitHub, EndNote. I am also a Certified De-Identification Professional, having developed policies and procedures for secure data environments like Weill Cornell’s Data Core, ensuring regulatory compliance for data protection. Previous and Ongoing Research Projects: My research trajectory demonstrates a commitment to both theoretical innovation and applied solutions in public health and biomedical informatics. • Author Disambiguation & Impact Assessment: I co-directed the development and evaluation of ReCiter, an open-source, identity-driven author disambiguation algorithm optimized for academic institutions, significantly increasing its accuracy. I also led the design of FAR-CITE, a system for research impact evaluation and visualizing citation impact. • Data Visualization for Health Literacy: I have pioneered work in designing accessible infographics for diverse populations, a contribution recognized with the Harriet H. Werley Award by the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). • Public Health Informatics & Emergency Response: As a Public Health Informatics Fellow at the CDC, I developed an archival database system for historic epidemiologic field investigation reports, participated in bioterrorism preparedness, and coordinated evaluation of public health surveillance systems. I also served as a consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Africa, improving capacity for integrated disease surveillance and data management. • Doctoral Research: My PhD work focused on the development and evaluation of Sciologer, a search and visualization system designed to help researchers understand the social structure of scientific communities. I also evaluated medical language processing systems (MedLEE) and classification systems (ICF). • Translational Research: My role at the CTSC involves working with core directors and the informatics group to define metrics, track progress, and implement interventions to enhance performance, with a focus on community-engaged science and translational outputs. I am currently investigating the use of AI for CTSC tracking and evaluation. Educational Background: I hold a PhD in Biomedical Informatics from Columbia University, an MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota, and a BA in Biology from Macalester College. Other Relevant Details: I am multilingual, fluent in English and French, and conversational in Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean. Beyond my professional endeavors, I am an award-winning visual artist with works in permanent collections, and a musician, reflecting my diverse problem-solving and creative abilities.

Subject Matter Expertise

• ☆ Biostatistics
• ☆ Data Analysis
• ☆ Social Network Analysis
• ☆ Data Visualization
• ☆ Text Mining & Analytics
• ☆ Natural Language Processing
• ☆ Bioinformatics
• ☆ Gene & Protein Expression Analysis
• ☆ Earth & Atmospheric Science
• ☆ Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• ☆ Information & Knowledge Management
• ☆ Public Health
• ☆ Epidemiology
• ☆ Health Informatics

Services

• Writing
• Research
• Consulting
• Data & AI

Writing Clinical Trial Documentation, Medical Writing, Non-Medical Regulatory Writing, Technical Writing, Business & Legal Writing, Copywriting, Creative Writing

Research User Research, Meta-Research, Fact Checking, Gap Analysis, Gray Literature Search, Scientific and Technical Research, Systematic Literature Review

Consulting Healthcare Consulting, Scientific and Technical Consulting, Regulatory Consulting

Data & AI Statistical Analysis, Data Visualization, Big Data Analytics, Text Mining & Analytics, Data Mining, Data Cleaning, Data Processing, Data Insights

Work Experience

Director of Evaluation

Weill Cornell Medicine

April 2014 - Present

Data Visualization Programmer

Columbia University in the City of New York

September 2012 - August 2013

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

August 2011 - March 2012

Doctoral Researcher

Columbia University in the City of New York

August 2003 - April 2009

Public Health Informatics Fellow

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

June 1999 - May 2002

Graduate Research Assistant / Research Assistant

University of Minnesota

September 1997 - May 1999

Education

PhD (Biomedical Informatics)

Columbia University

August 2003 - October 2009

MPH (School of Public Health)

University of Minnesota System

September 1997 - June 1999

BA

Macalester College

September 1991 - June 1995

Certifications

• Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management

  ITIL

  January 2018 - Present

• Certified De-Identification Professional

  Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST)

  January 2017 - Present

• Certificate in Information Technology for Managers

  College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

  January 2001 - Present

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Jifeng (Jeff) Zhu, Michael E. Bales, Christine A. Ganzer, Farid Aboharb, Allegra Keeler, Krista A. Ryon, Ana C. Benitez, Brett J. Ehrmann, Julianne Imperato-McGinley (2025). Using CTSA infrastructure to address health disparities in New York City communities: Barriers and facilitators to implementing a free health screening program . Journal of Clinical and Translational Science.

Michael E. Bales, Jifeng Zhu, Christine A. Ganzer, Farid Aboharb, Allegra Keeler, Krista A. Ryon, Brett J. Ehrmann, Julianne Imperato-McGinley (2024). A retrospective case study of successful translational research: Cardiovascular disease risk assessment, experiences in community engagement . Journal of Clinical and Translational Science.

Michael Bales, Paul J. Albert, Cassidy R. Sugimoto, Sarbajit Dutta, Jie Lin, Zimeng Zhu, Stephen B. Johnson, Mohammad Mansour, Drew Wright, Terrie R. Wheeler, et al. (2021). ReCiter: An open source, identity-driven, authorship prediction algorithm optimized for academic institutions . PLOS ONE.

Odlum M, Cho H, Broadwell P, Davis N, Patrao M, Schauer D, Bales ME, Alcantara C, Yoon S (2020). Application of Topic Modeling to Tweets as the Foundation for Health Disparity Research for COVID-19 . Studies in health technology and informatics.

Karen Elizabeth Gutzman, Michael E. Bales, Christopher W. Belter, Thane Chambers, Liza Chan, Kristi L. Holmes, Ya-Ling Lu, Lisa A. Palmer, Rebecca C. Reznik-Zellen, Cathy C. Sarli, et al.(2018). Research evaluation support services in biomedical libraries . Journal of the Medical Library Association. 106. (1). University Library System, University of Pittsburgh

Karen Elizabeth Gutzman, Michael E. Bales, Christopher W. Belter, Thane Chambers, Liza Chan, Kristi L. Holmes, Ya-Ling Lu, Lisa A. Palmer, Rebecca C. Reznik-Zellen, Cathy C. Sarli, et al.(2018). Research evaluation support services in biomedical libraries . Journal of the Medical Library Association. 106. (1). University Library System, University of Pittsburgh

Arcia, A., Suero-Tejeda, N., Bales, M.E., Merrill, J.A., Yoon, S., Woollen, J., Bakken, S.(2016). Sometimes more is more: Iterative participatory design of infographics for engagement of community members with varying levels of health literacy . Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 23. (1). p. 174-183.

Michael E. Bales, Daniel C. Dine, Jacqueline A. Merrill, Stephen B. Johnson, Suzanne Bakken, Chunhua Weng(2014). Associating co-authorship patterns with publications in high-impact journals . Journal of Biomedical Informatics. Elsevier BV

Stephen B. Johnson, Michael E. Bales, Daniel Dine, Suzanne Bakken, Paul J. Albert, Chunhua Weng(2014). Automatic generation of investigator bibliographies for institutional research networking systems . Journal of Biomedical Informatics. Elsevier BV

Johnson, S.B., Bales, M.E., Dine, D., Bakken, S., Albert, P.J., Weng, C.(2014). Automatic generation of investigator bibliographies for institutional research networking systems . Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 51. p. 8-14.

Bales, M.E., Dine, D.C., Merrill, J.A., Johnson, S.B., Bakken, S., Weng, C.(2014). Associating co-authorship patterns with publications in high-impact journals . Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 52. p. 311-318.

Arcia, A., Bales, M.E., Brown 3rd., W., Co Jr., M.C., Gilmore, M., Lee, Y.J., Park, C.S., Prey, J., Velez, M., Woollen, J., et al.(2013). Method for the development of data visualizations for community members with varying levels of health literacy . AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings / AMIA Symposium. AMIA Symposium. 2013. p. 51-60.

Michael E. Bales, Stephen B. Johnson, Jonathan W. Keeling, Kathleen M. Carley, Frank Kunkel, Jacqueline A. Merrill(2011). Evolution of Coauthorship in Public Health Services and Systems Research . American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 41. (1). p. 112-117. Elsevier BV

Bales, M.E., Johnson, S.B., Keeling, J.W., Carley, K.M., Kunkel, F., Merrill, J.A.(2011). Evolution of coauthorship in public health services and systems research . American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 41. (1). p. 112-117.

Kumar, A., Swanwick, C.C., Johnson, N., Menashe, I., Basu, S.N., Bales, M.E., Banerjee-Basu, S.(2011). A brain region-specific predictive gene map for autism derived by profiling a reference gene set . PLoS ONE. 6. (12).

Bales, M.E., Kaufman, D.R., Johnson, S.B.(2009). Evaluation of a prototype search and visualization system for exploring scientific communities . AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings / AMIA Symposium. AMIA Symposium. 2009. p. 24-28.

Bales, M., Johnson, S.B., Weng, C.(2008). Social network analysis of interdisciplinarity in obesity research . AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings / AMIA Symposium. AMIA Symposium.

Weng, C., Gallagher, D., Bales, M.E., Bakken, S., Ginsberg, H.N.(2008). Understanding interdisciplinary health sciences collaborations: a campus-wide survey of obesity experts . AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings / AMIA Symposium. AMIA Symposium. p. 798-802.

Bales, M.E., Lussier, Y.A., Johnson, S.B.(2007). Topological Analysis of Large-scale Biomedical Terminology Structures . Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 14. (6). p. 788-797.

Michael E. Bales, Stephen B. Johnson(2006). Graph theoretic modeling of large-scale semantic networks . Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 39. (4). p. 451-464. Elsevier BV

Michael E. Bales, Rita Kukafka, Ann Burkhardt, Carol Friedman(2006). Qualitative assessment of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health with respect to the desiderata for controlled medical vocabularies . International Journal of Medical Informatics. 75. (5). p. 384-395. Elsevier BV

Bales, M.E., Kukafka, R., Burkhardt, A., Friedman, C.(2006). Qualitative assessment of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health with respect to the desiderata for controlled medical vocabularies . International Journal of Medical Informatics. 75. (5). p. 384-395.

Bales, M.E., Johnson, S.B.(2006). Graph theoretic modeling of large-scale semantic networks . Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 39. (4). p. 451-464.

Kukafka, R., Bales, M.E., Burkhardt, A., Friedman, C.(2006). Human and Automated Coding of Rehabilitation Discharge Summaries According to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health . Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 13. (5). p. 508-515.

Bales, M., Kukafka, R., Burkhardt, A., Friedman, C.(2005). Extending a medical language processing system to the functional status domain . AMIA ... Annual Symposium proceedings / AMIA Symposium. AMIA Symposium.

David A. Ashford, Robyn M. Kaiser, Michael E. Bales, Kathleen Shutt, Amee Patrawalla, Andre McShan, Jordan W. Tappero, Bradley A. Perkins, Andrew L. Dannenberg(2003). Planning against Biological Terrorism: Lessons from Outbreak Investigations . Emerg. Infect. Dis. 9. (5). p. 515-519. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Colin W. Shepard, Montse Soriano-Gabarro, Elizabeth R. Zell, James Hayslett, Susan Lukacs, Susan Goldstein, Stephanie Factor, Joshua Jones, Renee Ridzon, Ian Williams, et al.(2002). Antimicrobial Postexposure Prophylaxis for Anthrax: Adverse Events and Adherence . Emerg. Infect. Dis. 8. (10). p. 1124-1132. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Michael E. Bales, Andrew L. Dannenberg, Philip S. Brachman, Arnold F. Kaufmann, Peter C. Klatsky, David A. Ashford(2002). Epidemiologic Responses to Anthrax Outbreaks: A Review of Field Investigations, 1950–2001 . Emerg. Infect. Dis. 8. (10). p. 1163-1174. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

CONFERENCE PAPER

Rastegar-Mojarad, M., Bales, M.E., Yu, H.(2013). ResearcherMap: A tool for visualizing author locations using Google maps . Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. 192. (1-2).