Focus of his work

Evidence, discovery & translation

A field he helped establish

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, helping make real-world health data a foundation for evidence generation, discovery, and translation.

• 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

Effective & ethical health 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

AI-enabled learning health systems

Closing the loop between care and discovery

Across roles at University of Cincinnati, The Ohio State University, 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.

Trustworthy biomedical knowledge

Computable, AI-ready knowledge

Turning the health and biomedical data 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.