Brian Phillips, chief information officer for Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM), was recently appointed to the Ohio Broadband Council by Gov. Ted Strickland. The Broadband Council, created by Gov. Strickland’s Executive Order 2007-24S, Establishing the Ohio Broadband Council and the Ohio Broadband Network, was established to develop a strategic plan for the deployment of a statewide broadband data network. The broadband data network would be the backbone of health information exchange connecting health care providers such as physicians, clinics, hospitals and  pharmacies.

Phillips, who heads the Office of Information Systems and Instructional Technology at OU-COM and is the executive director of OhiONE, Centers for Osteopathic Research and Education, has spearheaded several initiatives in Southeastern Ohio promoting the development of electronic medical information systems and regional health information organizations (RHIOs), including the “RHIOhio: Bridging the Digital Divide” conference held September 2007. Phillips was the principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, grant that established the Appalachian Regional Informatics Consortium.

The 32-member Broadband Council held its first meeting Dec. 4, said Phillips.

“It is very important,” said Phillips, “for Southeastern Ohio to be represented on the state level to champion the development of high-speed telecommunications connections to support health care providers, educational and research entities and public agencies as they move to implement state-of-the-art, competitive technologies.”