Aviv Shachak
Assistant Professor
Education:
B.Sc. (Life sciences), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel (1993)
M.Sc. (Horticulture), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (1997)
Ph.D. (Information Science), Bar-Ilan University, Israel (2005)
Post-doc (Medical Informatics), Technion- Israel Institute of Technology (2005-2007)
Administrative responsibilities:
Faculty of Information
Faculty Liaison- Collaborative Program in Addiction Studies (CoPAS)
Information Services Committee
University of Toronto
Curriculum Committee - Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation
Striking Committee - Faculty of Medicine
Biography:
Professor Shachak joined The University of Toronto in October 2007, and has a cross appointment to the Faculty of Information and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. He is a core faculty on the Master of health Informatics program, offered by the institute in partnership with the iSchool, on which he teaches the two introductory courses Health informatics I and II.
In addition to courses at the Faculty of Information, Professor Shachak offers the following courses at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation:
Honours & awards:
International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) 2010 Yearbook of Medical Informatics Co-author of one of the best papers in medical informatics of the preceding year (Peleg et al., 2009).
The Israeli Council for Higher Education. Post-doctoral fellowship award (2006-2007).
Bar-Ilan University, Israel. The Rector’s Award for Outstanding Research Students (2004).
Bar-Ilan University, Israel. The President Scholarships Program for Excellent Doctoral Students (2001-2005).
International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). Travel Fellowship Award - Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) conference 2003, Brisbane, Australia.
The Licht Foundation. Scholarship for excellent Master’s students (1994-1996).
The Livne Foundation and the Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Honorable mention in research project (1993).
Research highlight:
Professor Shachak’s research and teaching is mainly in the area of health informatics. His work seeks to improve usage and help realizing the potential benefits of information systems, especially in health care and biomedicine. This includes the study, design, and evaluation of educational interventions, tutorials and user manuals, user interfaces, and end-user support.
Research description:
Research interests
- Health informatics
- Human-computer interaction
- Electronic health records
- Information systems diffusion & implementation
Through his research, Dr. shachak seeks to improve usage and realization of the potential benefits of (health care) information systems. Recent initiatives include the design and evaluation of:
- Training: Dr. Shachak's research in this area includes the study of hands-on training and its effect on biologists’ perceptions and intended use of bioinformatics tools; qualitative evaluation of the impact of evidence based medicine (EBM) educational intervention on primary care physicians’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour (PI: Dr. Kerem Shuval); and the design and evaluation of a simulation-based training intervention to help physicians better integrate the use of electronic medical records into the primary care consultation (With Drs. Shmuel Reis and Amitai Ziv).
- Tutorials and manuals: Dr. shachak's work in this area involves the design of hands-on tutorials for bioinformatics tools on the basis of various instructional design theories. Recently, he studied the differences between tutorials and manuals developed by users of an electronic medical record system and the official manual from the vendor. This study tried to identify new elements that might improve the design of tutorials and user manuals. Dr. Shachak is in the process of expanding this work to other types of software applications and help tools.
- User interfaces: Work in this area includes design and usability evaluation of a prototype user interface for a clinical decision support system for the treatment of diabetic foot complications (with Dr. Mor Peleg).
- End-user support: This work involves a literature review, which resulted in the development of a framework for characterizing and describing end-user support (funded by Connaught start-up award from the University of Toronto). Dr. Shachak later employed this framework in a qualitative case study of end-user support for primary care electronic medical record systems (research in progress; funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research).
Selected publications:
Published/ accepted papers
Yeung, K. N., Jadad, R. A., Shachak, A. (2013). What do electronic health record vendors reveal about their products: an analysis of vendor websites. Journal of Medical Internet Research 15(2), e36
Laberge, M., Shachak, A. (2013). Developing a tool to assess the quality of socio demographic data in community health centres. Applied Clinical Informatics 4(1):1-11.
Shachak, A., Montgomery C., Dow, R., Barnsley, J., Tu, K., Jadad, A.R., Lemieux-Charles, L. (2013). End-User Support for a primary care electronic medical record: a qualitative case study of one vendor’s perspective. Informatics in Primary Care 20(3): 185-196.
Shachak, A., Dow, R., Barnsley, J., Tu, K., Domb, S., Jadad, A.R., Lemieux-Charles, L. (Accepted) User manuals for a primary care electronic medical record system: a mixed methods study of user- and vendor-generated documents. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.
Shachak, A., Barnsley, J., Tu, K., Jadad, A.R., Lemieux-Charles, L. (2011). Understanding end-user support for health information technology: a theoretical framework. Informatics in Primary Care 19(3):169-172.
O'Grady, L., Charnaw-Burger, J., Betel, L, Wathen, N., Shachak, A., Luke, R., Hockema, S., Jadad, R. (2012). The use of tags and tag clouds to discern credible content in online health message forums.. International Journal of Medical Informatics 81(1):36-44
Reis, S., Cohen-Tamir, H., Eger-Dreyfuss, L., Eisenberg, O, Shachak, A., Hasson-Gilad, D.R., Ziv, A. (2011). The Israeli patient-doctor-computer communication study: an educational intervention pilot report and its implications for person-centered medicine. International Journal of Person Centered Medicine 1(4): 776-781.
de Lusignan, S., Pearce, C., Kumarapeli, P., Stavropoulou, C., Kushniruk, A., Sheikh, A., Shachak, A. & Mendis, K. (2011). Reporting observational studies of the use of information technology in the clinical consultation: A position statement from the International Medical Informatics Association Primary Care Informatics Working Group (IMIA PCI WG). International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) 2011 Yearbook of Medical Informatics (pp. 39-47).
Shuval, K., Harker, K., Roudsari, B., Groce, N.E, Mills, B., Siddiqi, Z. and Shachak, A. (2011) Is qualitative research second class science? a quantitative longitudinal examination of qualitative research in medical journals. PLoS one 6(2): e16937
Pearce, C., Shachak, A, Kushniruk, A. and De Lusignan, S. (2010) Usability: a critical dimension for assessing the quality of clinical systems. Informatics in Primary Care 17(4):195-8
Shachak, A. and Jadad, A.R. (2010). Electronic health records in the age of social networking and global telecommunications. JAMA- Journal of the American Medical Association 303(5): 452-453.
Shachak, A., Hadas-Dayagi, M, Ziv, A. and Reis, S. (2009) Primary care physicians’ use of an Electronic Medical Record system- a cognitive task analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine 24(3): 341-348
Shachak, A. and Reis, S. (2009). The impact of electronic medical records on patient-doctor communication during consultation: a narrative literature review. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical practice 15: 641-649.
Peleg, M., Shachak, A., Wang, D. and Karnieli, E. (2009). Using multi-perspective methodologies to study user interactions with the front-end of a guideline-based decision-support system for diabetic-foot care. International Journal of Medical Informatics 87(7):482-493.
*** Selected by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) 2010 Yearbook of Medical Informatics as one of the best papers in medical informatics of the preceding year.
Bar-Ilan, J., Shoham, S., Idan, A., Miller, I. and Shachak, A. (2008). Structured vs. unstructured tagging- a case study. Online Information Review, 32(5): 635-647
Shachak, A, and Fine, S. (2008) The effect of training on biologists’ acceptance of bioinformatics tools: a field experiment. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 59(5): 719-730.
Shachak, A., Shuval, K. and Fine, S. (2007). Barriers and enablers to the acceptance of bioinformatics tools: a qualitative study. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 95(4): 454-458.
Shuval, K., Shachak, A., Linn, S., Brezis, M., Feder-Bubis, P. and Reis, S. (2007). The impact of an evidence-based medicine educational intervention on primary care physicians: a qualitative study. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22(3): 327-331.
Shuval, K., Shachak, A. Linn, S., Brezis, M. and Reis S. (2007). Evaluating primary care physicians' Evidence-Based Medicine skills in a busy urban setting. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 13(4): 576-580.
Shachak, A. (2006) Diffusion pattern of the use of genomic databases and analysis of biological sequences - 1970-2003: Bibliographic record analysis of twelve journals. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), 57(1): 44-50.
Shachak, A., Ophir, R. and Rubin E. (2005). Applying instructional design theories to bioinformatics education in microarray analysis and primer design workshops. Cell Biology Education, 4: 199 -206.
Yakubov, B., Barazani, O., Shachack, A., Rowland, L.J., Shoseyov, O. and Golan-Goldhirsh, A. (2005). Cloning and expression of a dehydrin-like protein from Pistacia vera L. Trees Structure and Function, 19(2): 224-230.
Golan-Goldhirsh, A. and Shachak, A. (1998). Immunological cross-reaction between bud and bark proteins of dormant deciduous trees. Scientia Horticulturae 73(2/3): 165-173.
Book chapters
Shachak, A. and Reis, S. The computer-assisted patient consultation: promises and challenges. In: S. Kabene (ed.) Healthcare and the effect of technology: developments, challenges and advancements (pp. 72-83). IGI Global: Hershey, PA, USA.
Conference proceedinggs and abstracts
Shachak, A., Domb S., Reis, S., Borycki, E., Kushniruk, A., Ziv, A. Computer-based simulation for enhancing patient-clinician communication in computerized settings. CHI 2013 Workshop on Patient-Clinician Communication: The Roadmap for Human-Computer Interaction. April 28, Paris, France.
Dow, R., Montgomery, C., Barnsley, J., Tu, K, Jadad, A.R., Lemieux-Charles, L., Shachak, A. Preliminary findings from a multiple case study exploring the links between end-user support and electronic medical record success. Proceedings of Advances in Health Informatics Conference (AHIC), April 25-27, 2012, Toronto.
Laberge, M., Shachak A. Developing a tool to assess the quality of socio-demographic data in community health centres. (Poster) AcademyHealth, 2012 Annual Research Meeting, June 24-26, 2012, Orlando, FL.
Laberge, M., Shachak A. Developing a tool to assess the quality of socio-demographic data in community health centres. (Poster)Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR), 2012 Annual Conference, May 29-31, 2012, Montreal.
Reis, S., Egger-Dryefuss, L., Cohen-Tamir, H., Shachak, A., Eizenberg, O., Ziv, A. An Innovative Instruction & Evaluation Package for Enhancement of Primary Care Physicians (pcps) Skills In The Computerized Setting- Report of The Pilot Application. North American Primary Care Research Group Annual Meeting, Nov 13-17, 2010, Seattle, Washington.
Pearce, C., De Lusignan, S., Shachak, A. and Kushniruk, A. Doctors, Patients and computers: Evaluating a relationship in evolution. MedInfo 2010, Sep. 12-15, 2010, Cape town, South Africa.
Reis, S. Cohen-Tamir, H., Eger-Dreyfuss, L., Shachak, A., Ziv, A. Enhancement of primary care physicians (PCPs) skills in the computerized setting: instruction & evaluation. 14th Ottawa Conference on the Assessment of Competence in Medicine and the Healthcare Professions, Miami, FL, May 15-20, 2010.
Reis, S., Shachak, A., Eger-Dreyfus, L., Ziv, A. An innovative instruction & evaluation package for enhancement of Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) skills in the computerized setting- report of the pilot application. International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH), Verona, Italy, Sep 5-8, 2010.
O'Grady, L., Betel, L., Shachak, A., Wathen, C. N., Hockema, S., Luke, R.,
Chignal, M & Jadad, A. (2010). Sensemaking and Credibility of Health
Information in Online Message Forums: A Multi-Method Study assessing Tagging
and Tag Clouds. Demonstration at the Computer Supported
Collaborative Work (CSCW), Savannah, Georgia.
O'Grady, L., Betel, L., Shachak, A., Wathen, C. N., Hockema, S., Luke, R.,
Chignal, M & Jadad, A. (2010). Sensemaking and Credibility of Health
Information in Online Message Forums: A Multi-Method Study Assessing Tagging
and Tag Clouds. Workshop at the Computer Supported Collaborative
Work (CSCW), Savannah, Georgia.
Kaplan, B., Ash, J., Benditt, R., Brixey, J., George, S.M., Haque, S., LeRouge, C., Panniers, T.L. and Shachak, A. Qualitative Methods in Biomedical Informatics and the Three Rs: Rationale, Rigor and Roadblocks. Workshop at the Annual meeting of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), November 14, 2009, San Francisco.
Shachak, A., Meuser, J., Bean, T., Hockema, S., Salach, L., Ivers, N., Evaans, M. Collaborative knowledge translation: application of a wiki model for primary care practitioners. Forthcoming: Medicine 2.0 Conference: Web 2.0 in Health and Medicine, Toronto, Canada Sep. 4-5, 2008.
Shachak, A., Ziv A. and Reis S. (2007) Physicians use of electronic medical records: implications to patients’ safety and quality of care. International Conference on Communication in Healthcare (ICCH). Charleston, NC. October 9-12, 2007.
Peleg, M., Shachak, A., Wang, D., Sender, H., Shenhav, S., and Karnieli, E. (2007). Using multi-perspective methodologies to study user interactions with the front-end of a guideline-based decision-support system for diabetic-foot care. Human factors Engineering in Health Informatics, Aarhus, Denmark, June 7, 2007.
Shachak, A., Hadas-Dayagi, M., Ziv, A. and Reis, S. A cognitive task analysis of primary care physicians’ use of electronic medical records: implications for design. In: Proceedings of Human factors Engineering in Health Informatics (HFE2007), Aarhus, Denmark, June 7-8, 2007. pp. 32-33.
Shachak, A. and Reis, S. (2006). The patient-doctor-computer relationship: a reality in need of recognition. The European Association for Communication in Healthcare (EACH). International Conference on Communication in Healthcare, Basle, Switzerland.
Shachak, A., Ziv, A. and Reis, S. (2006) Physicians use of electronic medical records: a Cognitive Task Analysis. ILAIS Conference, Haifa, Israel. Abstract available online.
Shachak, A., Ziv, A. and Reis, S. (2006). The Patient, the doctor and the computer: a new reality. Development of a simulation-based training to empower health professionals. Annual Meeting of the Israeli Association for Medical Informatics, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Shuval, K., Shachak, A., Linn, S., Brezis, M., Feder-Bubis, P. and Reis, S.(2006). Can an Evidence-Based Medicine educational intervention enhance facilitators' and primary care physicians' attitudes, knowledge, and clinical behaviour? A qualitative study nested in a controlled trial. 3rd Jerusalem International Conference on Health Policy. Jerusalem, Israel.
Shuval, K., Shachak, A., Linn, S., Brezis, M., Feder-Bubis, P. and Reis, S. (2006). Barriers and facilitators to the implementation of Evidence Based Medicine in primary care in Israel. 2nd Israeli Interdisciplinary Conference on Qualitative Research methods. Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Bar-Ilan, J., Shoham, S., Idan, A., Miller, Y. and Shachak, A. (2006). Structured vs. unstructured tagging – A case study. Collaborative Web Tagging Workshop, 15th International World Wide Web Conference, Edinbourgh, Scotland.
Iyer, L., Ben-Dor, S. Shachak, A., Butcher, S. and Rubin, E. (2004). Education, Training and Support in Bioinformatics: Commonalities and Differences. Workshop on Education in Bioinformatics 2004 (WEB04), Glasgow, Scotland. Abstract available online.
Shachak, A. Ophir, R., Rubin, E. and Fine, S. (2003). Instructional-Design Theories in Bioinformatics Education: An Application of Gagne’s “Conditions of Learning” to Microarray Analysis Training. Workshop on Education in Bioinformatics 2003 (WEB03), Brisbane, Australia. Abstract available online.
Ben-Dor, S., Butcher, S., Iyer, L.K., Kelso, J., LittleJohn, T., Shachak, A., and Rubin, E. (2003) Training and Support for Bioinformatics: Theoretical and Practical Aspects. Tutorial presented at Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) 2003, Brisbane, Australia. Abstract available online.
Yakubov, B., Shachak, A., Shoseyov, O. and Golan-Goldhirsh, A. (2001). Molecular cloning and characterization of the Pistacia vera dehydrin gene. Botany 2001 – Plants and People. Albuquerque, New-Mexico. Abstract available online.
Shachak, A., Shoseyov, O. and Golan-Goldhirsh, A. (1996). Cloning and sequence analysis of a cDNA fragment, encoding a dormancy-related dehydrin-like protein from pistachio inflorescence buds. Annual Meeting of the Israeli Botanical Society and the Israeli Plant Tissue Culture Association. Abstract: Israel Journal of Plant Science 44:248-249.
Shachak, A. and Golan-Goldhirsh, A. (1994). Dormancy related proteins in deciduous trees. Annual Meeting of the Israeli Botanical Society and the Israeli Plant Tissue Culture Association. Abstract: Israel Journal of Plant Science 42:87-88.
Shachak, A. and Golan-Goldhirsh, A. (1994). Dormancy related proteins and their response to salinity. 1st International Symposium on Plant Dormancy. Corvallis, Oregon. Abstract. No. 66.
Supervision:
Practica
University of Toronto, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Plumaletta Berry. EMR benefits realization project. Academic supervisor for practicum, supported by MITACS- Accelerate Ontario program.. Summer, 2009.
University of Toronto, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Shamsa Jiwani. Transitioning mental health and addictions organizations toward web-based electronic solutions Academic supervisor for practicum, supported by MITACS- Accelerate Ontario program. Summer, 2009.
Master’s theses
University of Toronto, Faculty of Information. NatalieYeung. Multimedia in electronic health records: current status and user acceptance. Master of Information (MI) thesis; 2011.
University of Toronto, Faculty of Information. Rustam Dow. The affects of end-user support on the categories of electronic medical record success across systems in Ontario Family Health Teams. Master of Information (MI) thesis; 2012.
Affiliations & collaboration:
NIHI- National Institutes of Health Informatics, Canada
COACH- Canada’s Health Informatics Association
IMIA- International Medical Informatics Association
AMIA- American Medical informatics Association (Work Groups: People and Organizational Issues)
AIS- Association for Information Systems ( Special Interest Groups:1. SIGHCI- Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction; 2. SIGHEALTH – Special interest group on IT in healthcare; 3. SIGADIT - Special Interest Group on Adoption and Diffusion of Information Technology )
Year joined the iSchool:
2007 