Public Biography
Lawrence Fagan, MD, PhD has 50+ years of experience in the development and management of computer applications to biomedicine. At Stanford University, he participated in the early expert systems projects, including the MYCIN system for antibiotic selection. He helped develop and manage one of the earliest cancer data management systems (the ONCOCIN system) that had the ability to provide decision support based on cancer clinical trials. Dr. Fagan developed one of the first graphical user interfaces for describing the structure of cancer clinical trials that was able to automatically generate the knowledge base for the ONCOCIN system. He also helped develop one of the first mobile graphical user interfaces for structured data entry of clinical notes.
Dr. Fagan retired in 2012 from Stanford University as Associate Director of the Biomedical Informatics Training Program and Senior Research Scientist. During his 29-year association with the Stanford Training Program he mentored numerous MS and PhD graduate students in the program.
Dr. Fagan worked with several small companies on SBIRs to explore methods to organize and retrieve data from medical information sources. Over the last two decades he has mentored small companies in the health and medical care areas. He has also received two US patents for semantic web-based information retrieval of structured data from medical textbooks.
For the last five years, he has participated as a Patient and Family Advisor at Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation providing a patient-oriented perspective on internal research and applications. He has participated in research regarding large-language model generated draft responses to electronic mail queries from patients to providers. At Sutter, he has participated on the Quality Metrics Steering Committee as well the Communication and Resolution Program.
During the last decade, he has concentrated on supporting online medical communities. Most recently, he was a co-founder and board member for the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Alliance
Dr. Fagan retired in 2012 from Stanford University as Associate Director of the Biomedical Informatics Training Program and Senior Research Scientist. During his 29-year association with the Stanford Training Program he mentored numerous MS and PhD graduate students in the program.
Dr. Fagan worked with several small companies on SBIRs to explore methods to organize and retrieve data from medical information sources. Over the last two decades he has mentored small companies in the health and medical care areas. He has also received two US patents for semantic web-based information retrieval of structured data from medical textbooks.
For the last five years, he has participated as a Patient and Family Advisor at Sutter Health/Palo Alto Medical Foundation providing a patient-oriented perspective on internal research and applications. He has participated in research regarding large-language model generated draft responses to electronic mail queries from patients to providers. At Sutter, he has participated on the Quality Metrics Steering Committee as well the Communication and Resolution Program.
During the last decade, he has concentrated on supporting online medical communities. Most recently, he was a co-founder and board member for the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Alliance
Affiliations
The American College of Medical Informatics
ACMI is a college of elected Fellows from the U.S. and abroad who have made significant and sustained contributions to the field of medical informatics. It is the central body for a community of scholars and practitioners who are committed to advancing the informatics field.
Year Elected
1985
Fellows of AMIA (FAMIA)
FAMIA stands for “Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association” and it recognizes the contributions and professional accomplishments of AMIA members who apply informatics skills and knowledge to their practice – be that in a clinical setting, a public or population health capacity, or as a clinical researcher.
Year Inducted
2026