About Our Team
Charlene Weir, PhD
Research Professor Emeritus
Department of Biomedical Informatics
University of Utah
Iona Thraen. PhD
Research Professor
Department of Biomedical Informatics
University of Utah
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Richard Clay North, MA
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Kristina Doing, PhD
AI Research Scientist
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Dr. Weir has a PhD in Social Cognitive Psychology and an MS in Nursing. She has held leadership roles at the Veteran's Healthcare Administration and at the University of Utah in area of evaluation science. She applies theoretical cognitive principles to the design, implementation and evaluation of technological interventions to improve the quality of decision-making by providers and the quality of care for patients. She has conducted over 60 projects in various clinical settings over 30 years of practice in areas of quality improvement, decision support design, and implementation science. She has used a diverse set of tools, including ethnographic observation of both patients and providers, structured interviews such as cognitive task analyses, focus groups, and visual tracking. She is skilled in psychometrics, experimental design, hierarchical linear modeling and measurement.
Iona joined the University of Utah in June of 2019 as Director of Patient Safety. Iona has an interest in engaging students into the journey of patient safety, quality improvement and management, and program evaluation. Iona has over 30 years of post MSW experience mostly in the health/mental health sectors. She obtained her MSW at the age of 30 after working in the fields of social services as a residential aid, psychiatric aid, and as a case manager for adults with cognitive delays. After completing her MSW, she worked as a school social worker, psychiatric social worker, medical social worker, community organizer, long term care Social Work consultant, program developer/administrator and Patient Safety Director for the Utah Department of Health. Iona returned to academic pursuits at the University of Utah in a combined program of Social Work and Medical Informatics. Dr. Thraen completed 60 hoursof Socal Work graduate training and obtained her PhD in Medical Informatics from the Univeristy of Utah, School of Medicine in 2011. She worked full time for the Utah Department of Health as Director of Patient Safety and Chair of the IRB until 2019. Dr. Thraen teaches part-time.
Richard Clay North brings a unique blend of clinical experience and technical expertise to healthcare informatics. With both a Master's degree in Counseling and a Master's degree in Biomedical Informatics from the University of Utah, he bridges the gap between clinical operations and technology solutions. His background includes emergency response coordination across multiple healthcare facilities, research support for federally-funded health IT projects, and hands-on experience with healthcare workflows and system implementations. Richard understands how technology changes affect frontline staff because he's been that frontline staff, and has seen firsthand what happens when well-intentioned systems don't account for real-world clinical workflows. He specializes in workflow analysis, system optimization, and translating clinical needs into practical technical solutions that actually work for the people using them.
Kristina Doing, PhD blends technical depth with a thoughtful understanding of how people and technology interact. With a PhD in Cognitive Modeling from the University of Glasgow and more than sixteen years working in artificial intelligence and machine learning, she has focused much of her career on using AI to support healthcare in responsible and practical ways. Kristina has led cross-functional teams across multiple continents, guided research and product development for clinical language models, and helped shape ethical AI standards through her work with professional groups and policy initiatives. She draws on her background in psychology and computer science to connect the technical side of AI with the human realities of clinical care. Kristina specializes in natural language processing, AI governance, and healthcare data science, and she is deeply committed to creating systems that are fair, transparent, and genuinely useful to the people they serve.
CORE SERVICES
Achieve More
Consulting
Tailored Strategies
We provide specialized consulting services to address specific healthcare challenges, ensuring that each solution is customized to meet the unique needs of our clients.
Project Management
Streamlined Execution
Our project management approach emphasizes efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring successful implementation of healthcare initiatives that lead to measurable improvements.
Training
Empowered Teams
We offer training programs designed to cultivate skilled teams capable of sustaining quality improvement initiatives, ultimately enhancing patient care.