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Margarita Sordo, PhD

• Senior Bioinformatics Research Scientist, Laboratory of Computer Science, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School

Dr. Sordo received her MSc. in Artificial Intelligence from The University of Edinburgh, UK (1995) and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from The University of Sussex, UK (1999). She worked as a Research Fellow at the Advanced Computation Laboratory, Cancer Research UK (1999-2001) developing decision support systems for cancer patient care. She also worked on extending the functionality of the PROforma language, a formal specification of knowledge representation language to support decision making and action control.

Current Research Projects

• Post market surveillance for drug safety. This is part of the eHealth's (eHi) Connecting Communities for Drug Safety Collaboration, a public-private sector effort conducted in partnership with the FDA. The purpose of the project is to test and evaluate the feasibility and value of using electronic health information--through a distributed model--to support post-market surveillance and drug safety.
• Application Natural Language tools for extracting medication-related data from patient records that can be integrated with structured patient information in electronic medical records.

Past Research Projects

• Development of GELLO: A standard object-oriented expression language for decision support. GELLO was balloted as an international standard by HL7 in January 2005, and by The American Standards Institute (ANSI) in May 2005.
  • A document describing GELLO can be found [here]
  • The full language specification can be found [here].
  • OpenClinical has more on GELLO [here].
  • In one of our latest project explored the use of GELLO as an expression language for encoding Prior Authorization criteria in Electronic Prescribing. A report can be found [here].
  • We created the GELLO Discussion Group as a forum for discussing the latest status of GELLO expression language, for posting additions, or other proposed extensions/changes to GELLO language. To join the GELLO Discussion Group send an email with your information [here].
• Analysis of Knowledge Management Approach to Grouped Elements to foster reusability, interoperability transparency and ease of maintenance of expert knowledge, and encourage best practices. In collaboration with the Clinical Knowledge Management and Decision Support Group, Partners HealthCare System, Inc.
• Development of Natural Language tools for extracting fenotyping data from patient records that can be integrated with genetic data for complex disease management of chronic diseases as part of the I2B2 Core 2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology & the Bedside) National Center for Biomedical Computing.
• Design of a institution-wide, standards-based rules engine for decision support at Partners HealthCare System, Inc.
• Analysis of an enterprise knowledge management for clinical decision support at Partners HealthCare System, Inc.
• Biosurveillance, in collaboration with Children’s Hospital Informatics Program at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston, MA.

Research Interests

• Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Clinical Decision Support
• Decision Support for Patient Care
• Elicitation, representation and Management of Medical Knowledge
• Pharmacovigilance
• Breast Cancer
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy
• Mammography

Professional Societies and Committees

• Member, American Medical Informatics Association
• Member, Decision Support Technical Committee, Health Level 7
• Facilitator, GELLO. Health Level 7
• Member, Open Clinical
• Member, New York Academy of Sciences
• Member, International Programme Committee and Session Chair for the Tenth International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems (KES) 2006
• Member, International Programme Committee for the 2nd Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems for Medicine, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (BIOMED 2006)
• Founder Co Editor-In-Chief, International Journal of Computers in Healthcare (IJCIH)
• Member, International Programme Committee and Session Chair for the 12th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems (KES) 2008
• Member, International Programme Committee and Session Chair for the 13th International Conference on Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information & Engineering Systems (KES) 2009

Publications

Bibliography

• Sordo M, Vaidya S, Jain LC. An Introduction to Computational Intelligence in Healthcare: New Directions. In Computational Intelligence Paradigms in Healthcare. Sordo, M.; Vaidya, S.; Jain, L.C. (Eds). Springer-Verlag, Germany, 2008.
• Brownstein J, Sordo M, Mandl K, Kohane, I. The Tell-Tale Heart: Population-Based Surveillance Reveals an Association of Rofecoxib and Celecoxib with Myocardial Infarction. PLoS One. September 2007, Issue 9, e840 [link] [pdf]
• Sordo M, Hongsermeier T, Kashyap V, Greenes RA. A State-based Model for Management of Type II Diabetes. In Advanced Computational Intelligence Paradigms in Healthcare. Series: Studies in Computational Intelligence , Vol. 48. Yoshida, H.; Jain, A.; Ichalkaranje, A.; Jain, L.C.; Ichalkaranje, N. (Eds.). Springer-Verlag, Germany, 2007.
• Sordo M, Hongsermeier T, Kashyap V, Greenes RA. An XML-based Schema for Order Sets at Partners Healthcare System. In Advanced Computational Intelligence Paradigms in Healthcare. Series: Studies in Computational Intelligence , Vol. 48. Yoshida, H.; Jain, A.; Ichalkaranje, A.; Jain, L.C.; Ichalkaranje, N. (Eds.). Springer-Verlag, Germany, 2007.
• Sordo M, Palchuk, M. Grouped Knowledge Elements. In Greenes RA (ed.), Clinical Decision Support: The Road Ahead. Elsevier, November 2006. [link]
• Hongsermeier T, Kashyap V, Sordo M. Case Study: Knowledge Management Infrastructure: Evolution at Partners Healthcare System in Medical Decision Support. In Greenes RA (ed.), Clinical Decision Support: The Road Ahead. Elsevier, November 2006. [link]
• Qing T Zeng, Sergey Goryachev, Scott Weiss, Margarita Sordo, Shawn N Murphy, Ross Lazarus. Extracting principal diagnosis, co-morbidity and smoking status for asthma research: evaluation of a natural language processing system. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2006, 6:30 (26 July 2006) [abstract] [pdf]
• Sordo M, Zeng Q. On Sample Size and Classification Accuracy: A Performance Comparison. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 3745, 2005. [slides pdf]
• Taylor P, Alberdi E, Lee R, Fox J, Sordo M, Todd-Pokropek A. Incorporating Image Processing in a Clinical Decision Support System. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2082.
• M.Sordo, H.Buxton, D.Watson. A Hybrid Approach to Breast Cancer Diagnosis in Practical Applications of Computational Intelligence Techniques, International Series in Intelligent Technologies, Vol. 16. De Wilde and Jain (Eds). Springer, 2001.
• M. Sordo. A Neurosymbolic Approach to the Classification of Scarce and Complex Data. D.Phil. thesis, School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex, 1999.[here] and [here]

Proceedings of Meetings

• Goryachev S, Sordo M, Zeng QT. A Suite of Natural Language Processing Tools Developed for the I2B2 Project. American Medical Informatics Association Symposium (AMIA), November, 2006;:931 [abstract]
• Jenders RA, Sailors RM, Sordo M. Standards in Clinical Decision Support: Activities in Health Level Seven. Workshop W05. American Medical Informatics Association Symposium (AMIA), October, 2005 [pdf]
• Blechner MD, Sordo M. Feasibility of an intelligent tutoring system for laboratory medicine. American Medical Informatics Association Symposium (AMIA), October, 2005;:895 [abstract]
• Greenes RA, Sordo M, Zaccagnini D, Meyer M, Kuperman GJ. Design of a Standards-Based External Rules Engine for Decision Support in a Variety of Application Contexts: Report of a Feasibility Study at Partners HealthCare System. Proceedings of Medical Informatics Association (MedInfo), September, 2004 [pdf]
• Sordo M, Boxwala A, Ogunyemi O, Greenes R. Description and Status Update on GELLO: a Proposed Standardized Object-Oriented Expression Language for Clinical Decision Support. Proceedings of Medical Informatics Association (MedInfo), September, 2004 [pdf]
• Sordo M, Ogunyemi O, Boxwala A, Greenes R. GELLO: An Object-Oriented Query and Expression Language for Clinical Decision Support. Symposium of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), November, 2003 [pdf]
• Sordo M, Fox J, Blum C, Taylor P, Lee R, Alberdi E. Combining decision support and image processing: a PROforma model. Medinfo 2001, September 2-5, 2001 [pdf]
• Alberdi E, Taylor P, Lee R, Fox J, Sordo M, Todd-Pokropek A. CADMIUM II: Acquisition and Representation of Radiological Knowledge for Computerized Decision Support in Mammography. Symposium of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), November 4-8, 2000. [pdf]
• Taylor P, Alberdi E, Lee R, Fox J, Sordo M, Todd-Pokropek A. CADMIUMII: Combining Image Processing and Symbolic Reasoning for Computer-Aided Diagnosis. Proceedings of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), Vol. 3979, 2000.
• Sordo M, Buxton H, Watson D. KBANNs and the Classification of 31P MRS of Malignant Mammary Tissues. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (ICANN'99), September 7-10, 1999. [ps]
• Sordo M, Buxton H, Watson D. A Knowledge Base for Classification of Normal Breast 31P MRS. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Neural Networks and Expert Systems in Medicine and Healthcare, September 2-4, 1998. [ps]
• Sordo M, Buxton H, Watson D, Collins D, Ronen S, Leach M, Payne G. KBANNs for the Classification of 31P MRS of Normal Breast Tissues Based on Hormone-dependent Changes During the Menstrual Cycle. Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Neural Networks and their Applications, March 13-15,1998 [ps]
• M. Sordo, D. Curiel, F. Cervantes "Redes Neuronales para Reconocimiento de Patrones Visuales". X National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Mexico City, Mexico, 1993.

Other Publications

• Margarita Sordo, Robert Dunlop, Ross D. Martin, Barbara M. McKinnon, Anthony J. Schueth, Robert A. Greenes. GELLO and ePrescribing: Exploring the Use of a Standard for Prior Authorization in Electronic Prescribing. Technical Report DSG-TR-2006-002 [pdf]
• Margarita Sordo. GELLO - In Guideline Modelling Methods and Technologies. OpenClinical [here]
• Margarita Sordo, Tonya Hongsermeier, Vipul Kashyap, Robert A. Greenes. Partners Healthcare Order Set Schema V1.3. Technical Report DSG-TR-2005-041
• Margarita Sordo, Robert A. Greenes. GELLO Standard Expression Language. HL7 News Bulletin, pp 12-13, April 2005 [zip Δ]
• Margarita Sordo, Robert A. Greenes. Speaking the same language: sharing clinical knowledge with GELLO expression language. DSG White Paper v1.2. Decision Systems Group, Harvard Medical School, December 2004. [pdf]
• Sordo M, Hongsermeier T, Greenes R. Knowledge Management for Clinical Decision Support. Requirement Analysis of Collaboration Tools for Content Management. Tech Rep DSG-TR-2004-23 [pdf]
• Robert A. Greenes, Margarita Sordo, Davide Zaccagnini, Mark Meyer, Gilad J. Kuperman. Feasibility Study for a Partners-Wide Rules Engine. Tech Rep DSG-TR-2003-
• Taylor P, Sordo M. Automated Image Interpretation in: 'Publet' technology for capturing and publishing medical knowledge. Advances in Clinical Knowledge Management 5, one-day conference, 22 April 2002, Cancer Research UK, London [pdf]
• Sordo M. Introduction to Neural Networks in Healthcare. Open Clinical Website. [pdf] and [here]
• Sordo M. Neural Nets for Detection of Down Syndrome. MSc Thesis, Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh, UK 1995 [abstract]

You can also search the National Library of Medicine's PubMed service for publications by Margarita Sordo (note that this may include publications by other authors with the same name)

Contact Information

Location: One Constitution Center, Suite 260L, Charlestown, MA 02129
Phone: 617-643 5894
Fax: 617-643 5280
Email: msordo@dsg.harvard.edu