2026 IMPACT Symposium & State of the Program
The IMPACT Symposium is the flagship event of the IMPACT Program. Each fall, this vibrant gathering brings together national leaders, local experts, and the broader health services research community to showcase cutting-edge research, foster collaboration, and discuss innovative solutions for transforming healthcare.
Our second annual event saw over 200 attendees from across Health Sciences. Event highlights included:
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Keynote addresses from Dr. Robert Wachter, MD and Dr. Ken Kawamoto, MD, PhD. Dr. Wachter and Dr. Kawamoto discussed the state of AI in health care in the national landscape and specifically at the University of Utah.
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Lightning talks from Echo Warner, PhD, MPH, and Andrew Wong, MD, MS, showcasing IMPACT's AI Initiatives.
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Health System Leaders Panel with Zach Boyd, PhD (Director, Office of Artificial Intelligence for the State of Utah), Byron Crowe, MD, MCiM (CMO, Doctronic AI), Vivek Reddy, MD, MMM (CMIO, University of Utah Health), Rashmee Shah, MD, MS (Clinical Research Scientist, Meta) to discuss AI in our health system.
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Networking and book signing with Dr. Wachter over lunch.
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Afternoon session designed and led by IMPACT Scholars Terrence Liu and Josh Jacobs and co-sponsored by the Vice President's Clinical and Translational Research Scholars Program (VPCAT). Afternoon highlights included a presentation on Navigating New Environments and Fostering Successful Collaborations as Junior Faculty by Jane Zhu, MD, MPP, Say One Thing Well: Simplifying Complex Research for Broad Audiences by Sophia Friesen, PhD, and a panel with the U2M2 Research Excellence Across UofU Health (REACH) Panel, led by U2M2 Co-Director Aaron Petrey, PhD.
We are excited to continue building a vibrant health services community at Utah. Please join us at our weekly IMPACT Mornings (Thursdays, 9am-12pm HELIX 3rd floor) to continue these conversations, connect with colleagues, and help shape the future of health services and outcomes research at Utah.
2025 IMPACT Symposium & State of the Program
The IMPACT Symposium is the flagship event of the IMPACT Program. Each fall, this vibrant gathering brings together national leaders, local experts, and the broader health services research community to showcase cutting-edge research, foster collaboration, and discuss innovative solutions for transforming healthcare.
Our Fall 2025 event saw over 80 attendees from across Health Sciences. Event highlights included:
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Keynote addresses from Dr. Andrew Ibrahim, MD, MSc and Dr. Daniel Mullins, PhD. Dr. Ibrahim and Dr. Mullins shared their own experiences and lessons learned in building highly successful health services research programs at their home institutions.
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Lightning talks from Julie Szymczak, Victoria Tiase, Jessica Sanders, and Andrew Gawron showcasing impactful health services research projects and innovations happening locally.
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Panel sessions with Dr. Erica Bisson, MD, MPH (System Chief Medical Officer), Dr. Rachel Hess, MD, MS (AVP-Research), and Dr. Angelo Giardino (Department Chair of Pediatrics) to discuss the future of health services research at Utah and opportunities for partnering with the health system.
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Networking over lunch led by our IMPACT Ambassadors. We had seven interest groups designed to facilitate robust discussion, forge meaningful connections, and enable new collaborations across disciplines.
We are excited to continue building a vibrant health services community at Utah. Please join us at our weekly IMPACT Mornings (Thursdays, 9am-12pm HELIX 3rd floor) to continue these conversations, connect with colleagues, and help shape the future of health services and outcomes research at Utah.
IMPACT Mornings
Every Thursday from 9:00 am–12:00 pm, the IMPACT community gathers on the third floor of the HELIX building for IMPACT Mornings, a dedicated, consistent time designed to foster collaboration, mentorship, scholarship, and career development for health services researchers across the School of Medicine.
IMPACT Mornings provide a consistent, high-value space for growth, collaboration, and scholarship. Join us weekly to enhance your research, build community, and advance your career in health services and outcomes research. View our fall programming.
Typical Schedule
9:00 am–10:00 am: Informal connection time. Grab coffee, network with colleagues, and engage in collaborative discussions or quiet writing sessions.
10:00 am–11:00 am: Rotating interactive programming, including:
- Work-in-Progress (WIP) sessions: Scholars present ongoing research and receive constructive feedback.
- Mock study sections and proposal review sessions: Receive expert feedback on grant proposals in a supportive environment.
- Fireside chats (Ask-me-anything sessions): Candid conversations and advice from senior leaders, national experts, and experienced mentors.
- Book clubs and professional development: Engage with curated readings, skill-building workshops, and professional guidance sessions focused on career success.
- Formal talks: Presentations from local and external researchers on cutting-edge methods, discoveries, and insights in health services and outcomes research.
11:00 am–12:00 pm: Unstructured collaborative time to continue conversations, mentorship discussions, or personal writing and productivity.
Target Trial Emulation in Practice: Designing Rigorous EHR-Based Causal Studies
IMPACT and the Study Design & Biostatistics Center co-hosted Barbra Dickerman for a two-day workshop focused on designing and implementing rigorous target trial emulation studies using EHR and large health system data. The first day covered an introduction to target trial emulation and building a learning health system, and the second day focused on data assembly for causal inference, followed by applications of the target trial framework across the cancer control continuum.
Topics included:
- Building analysis-ready datasets
- Defining and anchoring time zero
- Aligning eligibility criteria, treatment assignment, and state of follow-up
- Avoiding common sources of bias (e.g., immortal time bias)
Utah's Unique Data Powerhouses
IMPACT co-sponsored Utah’s Unique Data Powerhouses Lightning Talk event, held on September 8, 2025. This fast-paced event featured a series of faculty lightning talks designed to showcase Utah's Unique Data Resources and spark interdisciplinary collaboration across the university. These talks showcased the diverse ways data can inform, inspire, and innovate across fields, and provided opportunities for presenters and attendees to explore how data intersects with their own work and connect with others doing the same. Slides from the presentation are available here: Utah's Unique Data Powerhouses Master Slide Deck 3.pptx.
Lightning Talks
- Horns, JJ, Ibele, A. (2025). MarketScan: A Comprehensive Database of Commercial and Public Healthcare Insurance Claims.
- Madsen, R. (2025). Real World Data to Evidence: An Alternative. (Presenting for Ram Gouripeddi)
- Amburgey, V. (2025). Identifying Fit-For-Purpose Data Resources for Translational Research.
- Pascucci, V. (2025). Open Enrollment for a Novel AI Imaging Data Exchange.
- Alexander, K., Golden, M. (2025). The Hive: The University of Utah’s Research Data Repository.
- Madsen, R. (2025). CDIS: Clinical Data Interoperability Services.
- Miller, M. (2025). Utah Cancer Registry: Utah’s Population-Based Source of Data on Cancers Diagnosed in Utah.
- Ramshaw, M. (2025). Center for High Performance Computing.
- Willburn, J. (2025). Intelvia: Patient Blood Management (PBM) Insights Improving Patient Outcomes.
- Hollingshaus, M. (2025). Utah Caregiving Population Science (C-PopS).
- Jones, L. (2025). Health Research Opportunities in the WFRDC.
- Deshmukh, V. (2025). Data Science Services and Enterprise Data Warehouse .
- Madsen, M. (2025). Utah Population Database (UPDB).
- Samore, M. (2025). What makes VA Data Uniquely Powerful.
- Tate, J. (2025). The National Data Platform: Democratizing Data Discovery, Access & Use (Presenting for Manish Parashar)