The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Alumni Society proudly recognized Peter Embi, MD ’97 as the 2017 Distinguished Physician Alumnus Award recipient at the 2017 Commencement Dinner on April 19th. Charles Lockwood, MD, Senior Vice President of USF Health and Dean of the Morsani College of Medicine and Aman Bhullar, MD ’07, Vice Chair, MCOM Alumni Society Board and Chair, Awards & Recognition Committee made the presentation.

Dr. Bhullar noted that the award is the highest honor the USF MCOM Alumni Society bestows upon alumni to recognize exemplary dedication to the profession of medicine, insightful contributions to the medical profession, tireless efforts to the community, and continued professional and personal growth. He acknowledged Dr. Embi as exemplifying these qualities and shared a bit about his career. 

Dr. Embi is an internationally recognized researcher, educator, and leader in the field of clinical and translational research informatics. He earned his medical degree from the University of South Florida College of Medicine in 1997.

Dr. Embi currently serves as President and CEO of the Regenstrief Institute, and is the Sam Regenstrief Professor of Medicine. He also holds related leadership roles at Indiana University and the IU Health System, including Associate Dean for Informatics & Health Services Research, IU School of Medicine; Associate Director of Informatics, Indiana CTSI; and Vice-President for Learning Health Systems, IU Health.

He previously served in various leadership positions at The Ohio State University, including Interim Chair of Biomedical Informatics, Informatics Director of the OSU Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and Chief Research Information Officer at the OSU Wexner Medical Center. Prior to that, he was on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, where he was the founding director of the UC Center for Health Informatics. Among his numerous awards recognitions, Dr. Embi is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, and he is Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors of the American Medical Informatics Association. He also authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and presentations describing his innovations in the field.

Dr. Embi humbly accepted the award stating that he couldn’t believe 20 years had passed since graduating from USF. He acknowledged his parents, classmates, faculty, and the various people along his journey that had an impact on his life. He expressed gratitude to the Alumni Society for the recognition and to USF for providing the strong foundation upon which he built his career.