Eric Kirkendall, MD, is chief medical information officer and CIO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, N.C., and chief of academic health for Advocate Health in Charlotte, N.C. A board-certified pediatrician and informatician, he focuses on using health information technology to maximize patient safety, care quality and clinician efficiency.
Before joining Wake Forest in 2018, he served as associate chief medical information officer at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where he oversaw EHR design, implementation and optimization. He also serves as deputy director of the Wake Forest Center for Healthcare Innovation.
Dr. Kirkendall earned a bachelor’s in biology from the University of Toledo (Ohio), his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s in biomedical informatics, and completed his pediatrics residency at the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s.
He maintains a research and publication record as a member of the American Medical Informatics Association. His work bridges front-line clinical informatics with novel application and software development. He is recognized for advancing digital health innovation across a large academic health enterprise.