Ruth Dayhoff (born 1952) is an American physician and medical bioinformatician.

Early life

Dayhoff is the daughter of

Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Margaret Belle (Oakley) Dayhoff (March 11, 1925 – February 5, 1983) was an American physical chemist and a pioneer in the field of bioinformatics. Dayhoff was a professor at Georgetown University Medical Center and a noted research biochem ...

, an early bioinformatician, and Edward S Dayhoff, a distinguished Physicist in the area of Electro-optics. From a young age, Dayhoff was encouraged by her mother to pursue scientific interests. In Dayhoff's words:

Education

Dayhoff completed her undergraduate studies at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the Flagship un ...

. During her undergraduate career, she majored in mathematics. Dayhoff graduated in 1973 after only 3 years, earning the highest honors. She went on to attend medical school at

Georgetown University School of Medicine Georgetown University School of Medicine, a medical school opened in 1851, is one of Georgetown University's five graduate schools. It is located on Reservoir Road in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, adjacent to the University's ...

and graduated in 1977. Dayhoff had started working on Computer systems while in High School. During her time at Georgetown, she began to pursue informatics. While in Medical School she authored the MUMPS Primer with Martin Johnson. Dayhoff completed her second residency in 1980 at

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hos ...

, where she studied clinical pathology and gave special attention to Laboratory Information Systems. Dayhoff was one of the organizers of the original Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care, later renamed American Medical Informatics Association. She was Elected a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics in .

Career

Dayhoff pioneered integrated hospital digital imaging systems. She built a prototype demonstration of the VistA Imaging system in her basement in 1986. Dayhoff has held high-ranking positions in the US Department of Veterans Affairs' VistA Imaging Project since 1989. She served as the national projects manager and retired as Director of Digital Imaging in Medicine. As national projects manager, she supervised integration of old patient records with the VA computerized system for patient records. This system is currently implemented at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where it has been running for twenty years, and at over 150 other medical institutions. A version of the system was installed at the National Cancer institute of Egypt. Dayhoff was chosen by the National Library of Medicine as one of the outstanding women physicians in America who "changed the face of medicine". In 2020, the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine announced the creation of the annual Dr. Ruth Dayhoff Award for the Advancement of Women in Medical Imaging Informatics. https://siim.org/page/ruth_dayhoff?&hhsearchterms=%22ruth+and+dayhoff%22%20Can

Personal life

Dayhoff is married with two daughters and five grandchildren. She has said that her husband, Vincent Brannigan, has provided invaluable support throughout the years by sharing household responsibilities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dayhoff, Ruth American bioinformaticians American women computer scientists American computer scientists 1952 births Living people University of Maryland, College Park alumni Georgetown University School of Medicine alumni Johns Hopkins School of Medicine alumni 21st-century American women https://siim.org/page/ruth_dayhoff?&hhsearchterms=%22ruth+and+dayhoff%22%20Can