Dr. Brian Patterson graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor of science in bioengineering and went on to complete a master’s degree in public health and a medical degree at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He continued at Northwestern for his residency training in emergency medicine, where he served as chief resident.
Dr. Patterson’s research interests are in clinical informatics and geriatric emergency medicine. His work aims to use routinely collected clinical data to generate actionable insights to improve the quality and safety of emergency care for older adults. To achieve these goals, Dr. Patterson works in collaboration with investigators from the business and engineering schools as well as in the department of biostatistics and medical informatics. His current work focuses on automated risk scoring to identify older adults at high risk for falling after ED visits, and automating referral to interventions to prevent future falls.
Dr. Patterson has also taken on the inaugural role as the Physician Informatics Director of Predictive Analytics for the BerbeeWalsh Emergency Department at UW Health. In this role, Dr. Patterson works with department leadership to best use information technology to support clinical, educational, and research priorities. He advises on a range of issues, including optimizing the design, implementation, dissemination, evaluation, and routine use of clinical data and information systems to improve healthcare quality, operational efficiency, educational programs, and research. Among other roles, Patterson functions as a liaison between clinicians and health IT staff within the department and hospital and provides input into the implementation of new IT-related workflows in the department.