I honestly can see connections between that early era in filmmaking and our current age, not only in terms of the kind of work that artists like Scott Snibbe are doing, but also the intensely creative work being done right now in leveraging healthcare IT to improve patient safety, care quality, clinician effectiveness, operational efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. It’s tremendously hard work, but the potential rewards are enormous. When it comes to the four top-place finishing teams in this year’s Healthcare Informatics Innovator Awards program—well, indeed, when it comes to all 15 finalist and semi-finalist teams whose work is described in this month’s cover story package—we’re witnessing a true Age of Invention in terms of leveraging IT to improve healthcare.

Rick Schooler, CIO and vice president of Orlando Health, an integrated delivery system based in central Florida, has been elected as the recipient of the 2011 John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year Award. Schooler was given the award by the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). Schooler will receive the award at the 2012 Annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas on Feb. 23, 2012.