Elmer Bernstam

Elmer Bernstam, MD, MSE, is Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston). He holds the Reynolds and Reynolds Professorship in Clinical Informatics and serves as Associate Dean for Research at the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics while maintaining a joint appointment with the McGovern Medical School. Dr Bernstam is board-certified in internal medicine and continues to practice, and he directs the Biomedical Informatics Group within UTHealth’s Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS).

Education

• MS, 2001 – Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University Medical Center
• MSE, 1999 – Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan College of Engineering
• MD, 1995 – Integrated Medical-Premedical Program, University of Michigan Medical School
• BSE, 1992 – Computer Engineering, University of Michigan College of Engineering
• BS, 1992 – Biomedical Sciences and Psychology, University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Research Focus

Dr Bernstam’s research centers on clinical and translational informatics. He and his team investigate how to improve health care through better information management, with specific emphasis on:

• Information retrieval from biomedical literature and EHRs
• Consumer informatics and online health information quality
• Clinical decision support systems, especially for personalized cancer therapy
• Health data warehousing, interoperability, and large-scale phenotyping
• Natural language processing for clinical narratives and pharmacovigilance

Under his leadership, the UTHealth clinical data warehouse now curates longitudinal data for more than 400,000 patients, serving as a foundational resource for multi-institutional research and learning health-system initiatives.

Scientific Awards & Honors

• John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award (2004) – conferred by student vote at McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
• Fellow, American College of Physicians
• Fellow, American College of Medical Informatics

Grants, Labs & Teams

Dr Bernstam leads the Biomedical Informatics Group housed in UTHealth’s Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. The group’s portfolio includes federal and foundation grants that fund the UTHealth clinical data warehouse, national collaboratory projects such as the ENACT network, and work on AI-driven decision support tools for precision oncology. The lab’s current initiatives focus on (1) scalable infrastructure for multi-site EHR-based research, (2) fairness and bias evaluation in AI models, and (3) harmonization of social determinants of health data across Texas CTSA institutions.

Clinical & Educational Roles

In addition to directing research programs, Dr Bernstam maintains an active internal-medicine practice and mentors graduate students, clinical informatics fellows, and junior faculty. His teaching emphasizes evidence-based use of informatics tools and translational approaches that move innovations from bench to bedside.