The UC Davis Health System has named Mike Minear as its chief information officer. Minear, who started the job Nov. 5, was chosen for his extensive experience in leading health care information systems.

He directs about 500 staff employees and oversees an overall annual operating budget of $50 million, plus a yearly capital budget exceeding $10 million. His plans include investing in advanced information technology, which increasingly determines the quality of health care, as well as education and clinical research.

The job includes working with the main Davis campus to create and support partnerships and joint projects, especially to assist collaboration between the Sacramento and Davis campuses in research and teaching.

"We will have a focus on faculty, staff, and patient technology needs, and work to remove any barriers that make it difficult to use our technologies," Minear said. "Joint projects and interaction will focus on teaching and research, with emphasis on administrative systems, computer/network security, and technology infrastructure."

Campus Chief Information Officer Pete Siegel, who has been consulting with Minear since Minear was chosen for the position last fall, was impressed by his fast grasp of his new job.

Siegel said they're both strongly interested in several areas, including working together on identity management; a common security road map and strategy; a common strategy on networking, data centers and to support research computing; and sharing licensing and services with IET and othe r groups on campus.

Minear is the first CIO of the Sacramento-based UC Davis Health System. He was previously senior vice president and CIO of the University of Maryland's Medical Center, where he was praised for modernizing its clinical information systems.

He has also been a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University, where he designed and taught a graduate-level course called "Health Management Information Systems," and has worked as CIO of both the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic and the Park Nicollet Health System in St. Louis Park, Minn.