John Kairys, MD, has been named chief medical information officer (CMIO) at Upstate Medical University.

The appointment was announced by Mark Zeman, chief information officer.

Kairys will support technology initiatives that streamline clinical operations; ensure quality; transform care delivery; and optimize the patient, faculty, student, and staff experience across the university. Kairys will also provide leadership and vision for the strategic planning, management, and implementation of information technology systems across the clinical enterprise.

Before joining Upstate, Kairys served as CMIO for 10 years at Jefferson Health, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Jefferson University Physicians. During his tenure, he has played a key leadership role in the selection, implementation, and optimization of Epic (an electronic health record system) across 11 hospitals and more than 250 clinics. He championed an Epic 8 Gold Stars designation and HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Stage 7 certification.  More recently, he served as medical director of remote patient monitoring at Jefferson Health. Before working in the medical information field, Kairys was an endocrine surgeon for more than 30 years.

Kairys earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard University and his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University.