Dr. Valerie Watzlaf, PhD, MPH, RHIA, FAHIMA

Dr. Valerie Watzlaf, PhD, MPH, RHIA, FAHIMA is Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of HIM, University of Pittsburgh. With over 40 years of teaching and research in HIM, informatics, statistics, epidemiology, privacy, and quality management, she helped develop Pitt’s Master of Science in Health Informatics program. She has a proven record of advancing HIM educational initiatives, leading strategic academic programs, and fostering interdisciplinary research collaborations. A past President of AHIMA (2019), she has chaired multiple national committees and published and presented extensively (over 100 publications and 130 presentations), including the textbook Health Informatics Research Methods. Dr. Watzlaf has received numerous awards for leadership, research, and service to the HIM profession.