Professor and Beerstecher-Blackwell Distinguished Scholar | Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and Vice Provost for AI
Dr. Saif Khairat is the Beerstecher-Blackwell Distinguished Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, with joint appointments at the School of Nursing, the Lineberger Cancer Center, and Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. He directs the NIH-funded Center for Virtual Care Value and Excellence (ViVE) and serves as associate director of UNC’s Carolina Health Informatics Program. Dr. Khairat has authored over 130 influential papers across 35+ peer-reviewed journals and conferences and has secured over $10 million in research grants as principal investigator.
Dr. Khairat is a leader within the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). He was recently inducted among the inaugural class of Fellows of AMIA. Among his roles, he serves on several digital health and AI task force national and globally.
An international expert in digital health and AI, he advises the World Health Organization (WHO) on policies to address national digital health and AI in high, middle, and low-income countries. Dr. Khairat earned his PhD in Health Informatics, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science from the University of Missouri, and an MPH from UNC-Chapel Hill.
|
Year |
Award / Recognition |
|---|---|
|
2025 |
Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) |
|
2023 |
2023 APIC-AJIC Award for Publication Excellence – Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) |
|
2023 |
Breaking Barriers Through Telehealth Award – Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center (MATRC) |
|
2022 |
AMIA Leadership Award – Washington, DC |
|
2019 |
Third Place, Best Paper Award Competition – Knowledge and Data Mining Working Group, AMIA, Washington, DC |
|
2019 |
Nominated for Best Student Paper Award – 17th World Congress of Medical and Health Informatics, Lyon, France |
|
2019 |
Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association (FAMIA), Atlanta, GA |
|
2017 |
Six Sigma & LEAN Certification – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
|
2016 |
Junior Faculty Development Award – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
|
2012 |
Best of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) 2012 – The Paths Toward Informatics Careers in the Post-HITECH Era |
|
2011 |
Informatics Institute (MUII) Research Fellowship – Recognized ICU Clinical Communication Research |
|
2010 |
Curator’s Grant-In-Aid (GIA) Scholarship – Continued success in educational endeavors |
|
2008–2010 |
Graduate Assistantship – University of Missouri |
|
2006–2008 |
Teaching Assistantship – University of Missouri, for outstanding teaching evaluations |
|
2005 |
General Honors Certificate – University of Missouri, for completing Honors courses with excellent GPA |
|
2004–2005 |
Computer Science Dean’s List – University of Missouri |
|
2004 |
National Scholars Honor Society |
|
2004 |
National Society of Collegiate Scholars – For outstanding academic achievement |
|
2003 |
Kappa Mu Epsilon – For attained academic distinction |
BiBLIOGRAPHY and products of scholarship:
Books and Chapters:
Reports:
Refereed Journal Publications:
(*data-based; †publication with student; ‡Corresponding/Senior author; ^Structuring Big-Data)
Refereed Conference Proceedings (PubMed Indexed):
Refereed Conference Proceedings (non-PubMed, *IEEE Indexed):
Conference Abstracts:
GRANTS:
Training Grants
| Role | Title | Total Award Amount (FTE if available) | Percent Effort | Agency | Dates |
| Co-I
(PI: Soltis-Jarrett, T14HP33207) |
ANE – Nurse Practitioner Residency Program | $6 million | 10% | Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) | 9/1/2020 – 7/31/2023 |
| Co-I
(PI: Soltis-Jarrett, T94HP30882) |
Advanced Nursing Education Workforce | $1.1 million | 10% | Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) | 9/1/2020 – 7/31/2023 |
Research Grants
Funded (Under Review)
| Role | Title | Total Award Amount (FTE if available) | Percent Effort | Agency | Dates |
| PI
(Submission date: 06/24) |
Improving Nurse EHR Usability and Patient Safety through a Tailored Interface Redesign and Support Toolkit (NEHR-SAFE) | $2,000,000 | 30% | NIH/NINR | 7/1/2024 – 7/30/2029 |
Funded (On-going)
| Role | Title | Total Award Amount (FTE if available) | Percent Effort | Agency | Dates |
| PI (Khairat)
(1R01NR021711) |
Evaluating Nurse Demands and Resources with Virtual Nursing to Mitigate Burnout | $3,329,226
|
35% | NIH/NINR | 02/2/2026 – 30/11/2030 |
| PI (Khairat)
(1RC2TR004380-01) |
Center for Virtual Care Equity and Value (ViVE) | $3,730,041 | 30% | NIH/ National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) | 8/1/2023 – 4/30/2028
|
| PI (Kistler)
(7R56AG075896) |
Improving Primary Care Clinicians’ Advance Care Planning for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias | $2,771,719 | 5% | NIH/ National Institutes for Aging | 9/30/2023 – 5/31/2028 |
| PI | Evaluation of Virtual Nursing Program to Combat Nursing Workforce Challenge | 15,000 | N/A | UNC School of Nursing | 5/1/2023- 4/30/2024 |
| PI (Khairat)
(1R01LM013606-01) |
Improving Providers’ Decision-Making and Reducing Information Overload Using
Information Visualization in Electronic Health Records |
1,348,653 | 35% | NIH National Library of Medicine | 05/03/2021- 31/01/2025 |
| Co-I (Austin)
(R21-AG080331) |
Development and Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy of a Telemedicine-Based Delirium Assessment Tool (The Tele-CAM) | $248,635 | 5% | NIH National Institute on Aging (NIA) | 02/01/2023 -01/31/2025 |
| Co-I (McSwain)
(U01-TR002626) |
SPROUT-CTSA Collaborative Telehealth Research Network | $3,625,641 | 5% | NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) | 04/01/2022- 03/31/2024 |
| Co-I (PI: Cook)
(A23-0473-002) |
CDC/NCDHHS – HAI Strengthening Project | $1,040,782 | 10% | NC DHHS Division of Public Health (DPH) | 10/1/2022 – 7/31/2023 |
| Co-I (PI: Rodriguez)
(R34-DA053887) |
A randomized controlled pilot study to examine the impact of a filmed dramatized story intervention (telenovela/soap opera) for HIV prevention in Latinas | $339,851 | 10% | NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) | 08/01/2022 – 07/31/2024 |
| Co-I
(PI: Ward) (550KR242009) |
Evidence-Focused Rural Telehealth Health Research Center Cooperative Agreement | $950,000 | 10% | Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) | 9/1/2020 – 7/31/2024 |
Funded (Completed)
| Role | Title | Total Award Amount (FTE if available) | Percent Effort | Agency | Dates |
| Site-PI
(PI: Galarraga) |
An EHR-Based Screening Tool to Support Safe Discharges of COVID-19 Patients in the Emergency Department | $299,449 | 15% | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) | 9/16/2021 – 3/23/2023 |
| Site-PI
(PI: Ancker, Kaushal) |
Evaluating the Comparative Effectiveness of Telemedicine in Primary Care: Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic | $3 million | 15% | Patient Centered Outcomes and Research Institute (PCORI) | 9/1/2020 – 10/30/2022 |
| Consultant
(Ratwani, 5R01HS023701-02) |
Developing Evidence-Based User Centered Design and Implementation Guidelines to Improve Health Information Technology Usability | $1,170,7990 | Consultant | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) | 10/1/2019- 06/01/2020 |
| Co-PI
(PI: Seashore) |
Promoting Physician Well Being through Improved Epic Experience | $25,000 | N/A | School of Medicine, UNC | 3/1/2020 – 3/1/2021 |
| Co-PI (2KR1382100) | The Impact of Telemedicine Expansion for Office-Based Opioid Treatment on Health Disparities in North Carolina | $2,000 | — | NC TraCS Institute, UNC | 2021-2022 |
| Site-PI
(Obeid, 1 R21 3R21TR002088-02S1) |
Investigating teleconsent to improve clinical research access in remote
communities |
$46,719 | 15% | NCATS | 8/2018-6/2019 |
| Co-I
(Ahalt, OT3HL142479) |
A Collaboration for the NIH Data Commons | $1,224,574 | 10% | National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH) | 09/27/2017- 06/30/2018 |
| PI
(2KR981704) |
Teleconsent to Overcome Barriers and Gaps in Clinical Trial Enrollment | $2,000 | NA | NC TraCS Institute | 1/1/2018 – 12/31/2018 |
| Co-PI
(Site PI) (Obeid, 1 R21 TR002088-01)
|
Investigating teleconsent to improve clinical research access in remote
communities |
$238,125 | 15% | National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) | 08/01/2017- 07/31/2019 |
| PI | Clinical Informatics: Secondary Use of EHR Data to Better Train Future Healthcare Workforce | $6,500 | N/A | Data@Carolina
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
5/1/2016-5/1/2017 |
| PI | VICUT: A Clinician-Centered Visualization Dashboard to Improve ICU Patient Information Representation and Delivery | $7,500 | N/A | UNC Office of the Provost | 1/1/2016-
12/31/2016 |
| Co-PI (Speedie, G22RH26185) | Telehealth Resource Center Grant Program | $975,000 | 20% | Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) | 09/01/2013-
08/31/2016 |
| Consultant (Blazar, UL1TR000114) | University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) | $42,747,794 | 10% | National Institutes for Health (NIH) | 01/03/2014-
2/28/2015 |
