The moniker "City of Champions" was bestowed upon Pittsburgh for its professional sports prowess, but it extends to the university's achievements in HIM education as well.

Since the advent of the program in 1971, the University of Pittsburgh has become the first institution to offer a master's degree in HIM curriculum (starting in 1981, in both health information systems as well as health care supervision and management) as well as a PhD program starting in 1991.

All these accomplishments were achieved under the watch of Dr. Mervat Abdelhak, PhD, RHIA, FAHIMA, department chair and associate professor. Dr. Abdelhak--one of the most decorated members of the HIM profession in our country--started at Pittsburgh in 1973 and has remained ever since. Thus, she's been a witness to each and every "first" in the program's storied history.

"We're always at the cutting edge--leading the profession ahead of what has been the accepted norm," she said. "We take pride in being innovative visionaries and moving ahead of what others have established, even at the national level."

The program enjoys a prominent position in Pittsburgh's School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, with a talented, diverse faculty who are not only active but quite accomplished in the world of HIM. Diversity is one of Dr. Abdelhak's foremost goals in assembling her faculty, as she feels it fosters a comprehensive, thorough approach to education.

"We have a combination of registered health information administrators (RHIAs) among the faculty, but we've also recruited other professionals in information science with different areas of expertise," said Dr. Abdelhak.

In fact just last year, the school recruited two PhD-prepared faculty--one each in the areas of computational thinking and genomics and another in telemedicine--to further diversify the learning experiences of their students. One of the two new recruits received an NSF grant for the project, only enhancing their ability to add something to Pittsburgh's curriculum that had yet to be considered at many schools.

"With the inclusion of this new blood, we can incorporate computational thinking and genomics into our undergraduate curriculum. In my opinion, genetic data will influence a great deal of our work in the future."

Dr. Abdelhak's opinions carry plenty of weight in the world of HIM. At the recent American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) conference in Grapevine, TX, she received the Distinguished Member Award in recognition of her long career, which includes serving as AHIMA president in 2005, along with countless other honors. But she's far from alone when it comes to distinguished professionals on the University of Pittsburgh's HIM faculty. One member serves as a first-year director for the AHIMA board, with several others having been recognized for myriad accomplishments in the profession.

"Our faculty is always looking towards new innovations and moving forward in our approach to the curriculum," stated Dr. Abdelhak.

In her 36 years at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Abdelhak has overseen the implementation of the graduate program, the PhD program, and hundreds of other developments that have made the HIM curriculum one of the most comprehensive of its kind. She says that the challenge of staying one step ahead is what keeps her motivated.

"You have to really understand our profession," she said. "If you can understand and anticipate what's coming 3 years down the road, you can adapt. You can't stay the same--what was excellent yesterday may not be the same today. I believe that people, and profession, are constantly evolving."

Rob Senior is managing editor with ADVANCE.