Dr. Johanna Westbrook

Biography

Johanna Westbrook is a Professor and Director at the Centre for Health Systems Safety Research, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University. She is internationally recognized for her research on the effects of information communication technologies (ICT) in healthcare, focusing on the usability of clinical information systems and their ability to deliver expected benefits. Her applied research has promoted the application of evidence into policy and practice changes in health systems design. Johanna has developed theoretical models for complex multi-method evaluations of ICT and created the Work Observation Method Activity Timing (WOMBAT) software, which has been used in over 80 published studies in 20 countries. She has been involved in a program assessing informatics support within the aged care sector, including projects on predictive analytics and evaluations of medication safety. With over 600 publications, she has been recognized for her contributions, including being named the Australian ICT Professional of the Year in 2014 and receiving the Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Award in 2019. Johanna is also a Co-Director of the Safety, Quality Informatics Leadership (SQIL) program at Harvard Medical School, where she trains senior professionals in health informatics.

Research Interests