Ruth Dayhoff facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ruth Dayhoff
Ruth Dayhoff
Born	1952 (age 72–73)
Nationality	American
Education	University of Maryland
Occupation	Physician and medical bioinformatician
Known for	VistA imaging system
Relatives	Margaret Oakley Dayhoff (mother)
Medical career
Profession	Director of Digital Imaging in Medicine
Field	Integrated hospital digital imaging systems
Institutions	United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Ruth Dayhoff, born in 1952, is an American doctor and a special kind of computer scientist. She combines medicine with computer science to create amazing systems.

Ruth Dayhoff's Early Life

Ruth's mom, Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, was also a pioneer in combining biology and computers. Her dad, Edward S Dayhoff, was a famous physicist. He studied light and electronics. Her mom always encouraged Ruth to explore science from a young age.

Ruth once said that her mom, a science professor, taught her something important. She learned that doctors not only need to know facts, but also how they think and make choices. Ruth always believed computers would be key for medicine and biology in the future. She was interested in all these areas as she grew up. She had to choose between studying computer science or going to medical school. Ruth decided to go to medical school. This helped her better understand how doctors treat patients and what they know.

Ruth Dayhoff's Education

Ruth Dayhoff started her college studies at the University of Maryland. She focused on mathematics. Ruth finished her degree in just three years, graduating in 1973 with top honors.

After that, she went to medical school at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She graduated in 1977. Ruth had actually started working with computer systems when she was still in high school. During her time at Georgetown, she began to focus on informatics. Informatics is about how information is stored and used, especially in medicine. While in medical school, she even wrote a book called "MUMPS Primer" with Martin Johnson.

In 1980, Ruth completed her second residency at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. There, she studied clinical pathology. This field looks at diseases using lab tests. She paid special attention to systems that manage lab information. Ruth also helped organize an important meeting called the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care. This meeting is now known as the American Medical Informatics Association. In 1983, she was chosen as a founding fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics.

Ruth Dayhoff's Career in Medicine

Ruth Dayhoff was a leader in creating computer systems for hospitals. These systems help manage digital images. In 1986, she built a first version of the VistA Imaging system in her own basement!

Since 1989, Ruth has held important jobs with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She worked on the VistA Imaging Project. She was the national projects manager. Later, she retired as the Director of Digital Imaging in Medicine. As a manager, she oversaw connecting old patient records with the VA's new computer system.

This system is still used today at the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C. It has been working for over twenty years. More than 150 other medical places also use it. A version of this system was even set up at the National Cancer Institute of Egypt. The National Library of Medicine chose Ruth Dayhoff as one of the amazing women doctors in America. They said she "changed the face of medicine."

In 2020, a group called the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine created a new award. It's called the Dr. Ruth Dayhoff Award. This award honors women who help advance medical imaging informatics.

Ruth Dayhoff's Personal Life

Ruth Dayhoff is married and has two daughters. She also has five grandchildren. She has shared that her husband, Vincent Brannigan, has been a great help. He supported her over the years by sharing household duties.