BHIS Faculty Retirements: Dr. Miriam Isola and Professor Barbara Glondys
Introduction
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Miriam Isola and Prof. Barbara Glondys for their years of service and retirement!
Dr. Miriam Isola - Clinical Associate professor
Dr. Miriam Isola has been a faculty member and the program Director in the Biomedical & Health Information Sciences department since 2016, focusing on strategic planning and delivery of programs and daily operations of Health Informatics (HI) programs. She oversaw creation of a variety of educational pathways: 4 new certificates, 3 concentrations, a non-degree option. She co-founded the undergraduate concentration Healthcare Data Science (HDS) for a new multidisciplinary data science degree at UIC housed in the computer science department in the College of Engineering. She led a 2-year project for MSHI, to meet new accreditation standards for transitioning to a competency-driven curriculum and a reaccreditation of the MSHI-awarded reaccreditation for MSHI program until 2030. She created and led the Curriculum Steering Committee to provide oversight and innovation in the MSHI curriculum and implemented the new partnership with Extended Campus to do marketing, recruitment and student advising. Dr. Isola stepped down from her role as Program Director of the Health Informatics programs in summer of 2024, and continued to be a full-time member of the BHIS faculty with her teaching responsibilities. She continued to be involved in projects focused on CIP code change to STEM designated program, development of BHIS 538 Healthcare IT Administration and Digital Strategy and working with the faculty workgroup to explore adding Generative AI skills to the MSHI core curriculum. She also continued to Chair the BHIS Academic Affairs committee and serve as the BHIS representative to the AHS Academic Affairs committee. She plans to continue to follow developments in education and learning related to AI, and spend more time gardening, golfing and time up at the lake in Wisconsin.
Prof. Barbara Glondys - Clinical Assistant Professor
Prof. Barbara Glondys began her affiliation with UIC as an adjunct instructor in Health Information Management in August 1997, arranging the Professional Practice Experiences for the BS in HIM program. She continued in this role for 17 years. In 2018 she took on a full-time faculty position teaching courses in Introduction to Healthcare, Management and Business Practices, Human Relations and Legal Issues in the Bachelors and Masters in HIM programs. For the past eight years, she has enjoyed working with faculty in the HIM program including Karen Patena, Fe Williams, Lois Hitchcock, Gideon Ramirez, Sandra Kersten and others, and the students, of course! She will now be joining her patiently waiting husband who has been retired for eight years to travel more and spend more time working on hobbies. Although her first trip after retirement is a “girls’ trip” to Venice, Italy in September, Prof. Glondys plans to continue to explore the universal health systems in Canada, France and the UK.