Dr. Fatemeh Afshari appointed as College of Dentistry’s first chief dental informatics officer
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Effective August 16, Dr. Fatemeh Afshari will assume the role of the College of Dentistry’s first chief dental informatics officer (CDIO). In this newly established position, she will oversee the clinical information technologies used by the college, serving as a strategic liaison and content expert connecting clinicians, researchers, students, and information technology teams across the college, UI Health, and the university.
Afshari will lead efforts to ensure the college’s electronic health record systems provide effective clinical decision support, optimized workflows, robust analytics, and enhanced provider and patient engagement—advancing institutional goals in student learning, patient safety, clinical outcomes, and research.
A member of the college faculty since 2009, Afshari has held multiple leadership roles within the predoctoral program, including teaching faculty, course co-director, and course director. Since 2017, she has served as managing partner of the Group Practice Vivaldi Clinic, overseeing the clinical education of 45–50 students annually and patient care within the clinic. She has spearheaded the development of a comprehensive student dashboard and several axiUm-based modules—including caries risk assessment, after-visit summaries, and nutritional counseling—leveraging electronic health record data to support educational and clinical excellence.
As director of calibration and assessment, Afshari has been instrumental in maintaining CODA compliance for the clinical education program. She organizes and facilitates faculty training and calibration and oversees the D4/A4 objective structured clinical examination (OSCE).
Afshari earned her BA from Northwestern University, DMD from Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and a certificate in prosthodontics and MS in Oral Sciences from UIC College of Dentistry. She completed the year-long American Dental Education Association Leadership Institute Fellowship, further strengthening her leadership skills.
Her professional engagement includes active service in the American College of Prosthodontists and work as a site visitor for the Commission on Dental Accreditation. She has received multiple honors for her teaching excellence, including the 2014 UIC Teaching Recognition Award, 2016 Claude R. Baker Award for Excellence in Teaching Predoctoral Fixed Prosthodontics, 2024 Jon Daniel Teaching Award, and 2024 UIC Award for Excellence in Teaching.
An accomplished scholar, Afshari has co-authored more than 35 peer-reviewed papers, contributed to several textbook chapters, and serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Dental Education.