What he works on

Clinical research informatics

A field he helped found

Embí is credited among the founders of clinical research informatics — the discipline that uses electronic health records and health data to make biomedical research faster, broader, and more rigorous. His early studies of EHR-based clinical trial recruitment and of computerized clinical documentation became widely cited reference points for the field.

• Created and held the nation’s first role of Chief Research Information Officer (CRIO)
• Foundational work defining clinical research informatics as a domain
• The CRI Year-in-Review series, presented annually from 2011-2024

Trustworthy AI

Algorithmovigilance

Embí conceived and named algorithmovigilance: the systematic, ongoing surveillance of clinical AI after deployment for safety, bias, and performance drift — modeled on the way medicine monitors drugs once they reach patients. It reframes AI safety as a continuous, operational responsibility rather than a one-time approval.

• Originated the concept and the term now used across the field
• Leadership in national efforts on the responsible use of health AI

Learning health systems

Closing the loop between care and discovery

Across roles at IU Health, Regenstrief, and Vanderbilt, Embí has built systems where everyday care and research continuously inform each other — so health systems learn and improve as a matter of routine rather than exception.

Knowledge infrastructure

Computable, AI-ready knowledge

Turning the medical record and the medical literature into structured, connected, machine-usable knowledge — and governing it for integrity, so that what clinical AI learns from can itself be trusted.