Information Technology
Advancing the University Mission

Review 2023

Message from Amar Yousif

Vice President and Chief Information Officer

This review outlines what IT has been doing in recent years and sets the direction for the future. We hope to inspire a dialogue with the community that helps us fine-tune our technology plans.

Looking ahead, we have set ambitious goals. Our priorities include:

Expanding the use of Robotic Process Automation, mature Artificial Intelligence models, and similar innovative technologies to improve efficiency and save time.
Increasing our research IT capabilities to use cloud technologies to support Big Data and fast computing initiatives.
Maximizing the utility of our newly implemented EHR, Epic.
Improving our student experience by launching new apps and course catalog software.
Deploying faster and more capable network firewalls.
Diversifying our backup data center strategy to increase our geographical resilience during natural disasters.
Continuing to use a combination of technology and creative workflows to protect our information systems against ransomware and other threats to security and privacy.

The past four years have been consequential for the Information Technology (IT) Department at UTHealth Houston. The IT team has worked diligently to support the organizational mission during a change in IT leadership, a pandemic that necessitated remote work practices, the implementation of a major electronic health record and revenue cycle system, and the adoption of a cloud-smart strategy that demanded new IT skillsets and enabled capabilities such as Microsoft Office 365, Teams Voice/Telephony, ServiceNow, DocuSign, and Amazon Web Services.

We also have upgraded numerous infrastructure components, networks, databases, storage, and data center systems to improve reliability and reduce downtime. All these IT advancements occurred simultaneously with the implementation of security protocols to protect against cyber threats and comply with emerging laws and regulations, while striving to deliver the best IT experience to the UTHealth Houston community.

The IT team has excelled at turning unexpected challenges into learning opportunities. When something did not go according to plan, we took the time to understand what went wrong and why—and we used this information to make changes for the future.

Finally, this review serves as a renewal of our commitment to the IT mission statement: to unite through innovation in digital health, first-class educational technology, infrastructure designed to embrace pioneering research, reliable care delivery systems, and to foster a technology culture that puts students, patients, clinicians, faculty, and staff at the center of all we do.