Meet Our Faculty

Michael Cui, MD, MS is a practicing primary care doctor and physician informaticist. He completed his medical school, internal medicine residency, and clinical informatics fellowship from the University of Chicago. He believes that better workflows and technology implementation can help healthcare systems achieve the triple aim of improving healthcare quality, improving healthcare experience, and decreasing healthcare costs. He is passionate about patient engagement, digital health, and entrepreneurship.

Examples of Cui’s work include creating standardized breast cancer screening/diagnostic pathway in conjunction with radiology, developing the workflow for a virtual scribe program at RUSH, improving health maintenance outreach for patients, capturing more hierarchical coding categories in patients who are part of our value based care programs and piloting a remote patient monitoring program. Additionally, Cui is leading a collaboration between the American Medical Association and RUSH and coordinating multiple other RUSH initiatives to help improve blood pressure control in patients with hypertension and is part of the West Side United Hypertension Workgroup

Informatics Focus

• Workflow standardization and optimization
• Quality improvement
• Patient engagement/outreach

• Ravindra L, Cui M, Holmes M. Refining and optimizing scheduled video visits after rapid expansion. Epic XGM 2021 Conference, Physicians Advisory Council oral presentation. 3 May 2021.​
• Ravindra L, Cui M, Attar W, Houston M, Rice J, Hussain S, Dale, J. Improving physician engagement in the electronic medical record. Society of General Internal Medicine National Meeting poster presentation. Virtual conference. 23 April 2021.​
• Cui M, Ravindra L, Holmes M, Dale J. Physician Impression of Telemedicine During Coronavirus Pandemic at a Tertiary Care Center. Society of General Internal Medicine National Meeting poster presentation. Virtual conference. 23 April 2021.
• Cui M, Meherally N, Bansal N, Rice J, Damjanovic M, Woods J, Shultz A, Patel K, Hanak M. Increasing Hierarchical Condition Coding (HCC) in Primary Care. Society of General Internal Medicine National Meeting poster presentation. Virtual conference. 23 April 2021.
• Cui, M, Zimmerman, L., & Chokshi, S. (2020). 4259 Application of Design Sprint Methodology to Prototype a Proactive Outreach Tool for COPD Patients. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, 4(S1), 3-3. doi:10.1017/cts.2020.55
• CUI, MICHAEL & NATHAN, AVIVA & MILES, CRISTY & Press, Valerie & PUSINELLI, MARIKO & ZHU, MENGQI & ALI, RABIA & SCALES, KAMILAH & Huang, Elbert. (2020). 149-LB: Reluctant to Lose Control: Older Patients’ A1C Goals Lower than ADA Guidelines. Diabetes. 69. 149-LB. 10.2337/db20-149-LB.
• Cui M, Scheidemantle B, Raclin T (2019). First Impression: Resident to Resident Feedback. AMIA Clinical Informatics Conference; Atlanta GA
• Cui M, Patel P, Reiser I, Chung J (2019). Decreasing Inappropriate STAT Image Ordering. AMIA Clinical Informatics Conference; Atlanta GA
• Cui M, Rojas J, Cerasale M, Schram A, Chivu A (2018). Virtual Multidisciplinary Rounds: An Electronic Discharge Communication Tool. AMIA Annual Symposium; San Francisco CA
• Chivu A, Cui M, Rojas J, Cerasale M, Schram A (2018). Virtual Multidisciplinary Rounds: An Electronic Medical Record Based Discharge Communication Tool. Society of Hospital Medicine Annual Conference; Orlando FL
• Schram A, Cerasale M, Rojas J, Cui M, Chivu A (2018). Diagnosing Discharge Barriers with a Virtual Multidisciplinary Rounding Tool. Society of Hospital Medicine Annual Conference; Orlando FL

Michael J. Barbee, MD joined RUSH in 2012 and is a practicing physician in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine. Michael developed and interest in informatics at a time when there was increasing recognition of the negative impact of alert fatigue and poor workflow design on provider efficiency and overall satisfaction with EHR use. Today, Michael oversees a multitude of clinical decision support and order set design projects aimed at aligning with performance improvement goals, standardization of care and improving patient safety. In addition, he helps support a broad range of inpatient projects that impact provider documentation, orders workflows, patient flow/analysis and discharge planning.

Informatics Focus

• Inpatient Clinical Decision Support
• Inpatient Order Sets
• Inpatient EHR Workflow Design/Optimization (Quality/Performance Improvement, Patient Safety)

• Reset of Clinical Documentation for the EHR Era. 01-01-2019, Epic XGM 2019 Meeting, Session Presentation
• Optimizing the LACE Score to Predict Readmissions. 01-01-2015, Epic XGM 2015 Meeting, Session Presentation
• An Integrated Approach to Reducing CLABSIs. 01-01-2014, Epic UGM 2014 Meeting, Session Presentation
• Integrated clinical decision support focused on early recognition and standardized treatment of sepsis. 01-01-2016

Melissa P. Holmes, MD is a primary care pediatrician and serves as one of the associate chief medical informatics officers within the Rush System for Health.  She is board certified in pediatrics and medical informatics.  Dr. Holmes has interests in using information technology to engage patients and improve their experience in care.  She also is dedicated to helping leverage clinical decision support tools and provider workflow optimization to improve the efficiencies of clinicians to make the practice of medicine more enjoyable for providers.  She has an interest in analytics and its application to our youngest patient population.   Dr. Holmes is an advocate for working through the complexities of the EHR and its unique role in the care of children and adolescents.  She is an advocate for expanded use of telehealth and has been a key driver in RUSH’s expansion of telehealth services.  Dr. Holmes is excited to help grow RUSH’s Clinical Informatics Fellowship and work with our fellows as we continue to strive to use health informatics technology to transform patient care, population health, and clinicians’ everyday medical practice. 

Dr. Holmes has helped expand our screening and clinical decision support tools for addressing, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Peripartum Mood Disorders, and Childhood Developmental Disorders.    

Informatics Focus

• Pediatrics
• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Social Determinants of Health
• Clinical decision support tools
• Workflow optimization
• AI and virtual scribing

• Cui M, Holmes M, Ravindra R.  Refining and Optimizing Scheduled Video Visits After Rapid Expansion.  Epic XGM 2021, Verona, WI.  May 3, 2021.
• Holmes M, Ravindra L, Shah M.  Urgent Care Victories: Virtual and in 25 Minutes or Less.  Epic XGM 2021, Verona, WI.  April 26, 2021.
• Dale J, Barbee M, Vasquez I, Holmes M. Reset of Clinical Documentation for the EHR Era. Epic XGM 2019, Verona, WI. May 6, 2019

Media Contributions (Informatics)

• Interviewed by Modern Healthcare. Building a Better Patient Portal. Author Rachel Z. Arndt. November 24, 2018. 

Meeta Shah, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and has experience at both community and academic Emergency Departments. Her focus began with assisting in information services related efforts for the medical staff and advocating for struggling physicians to get help for pain points related to the electronic health record (EHR). Most notably, Dr. Shah was integral in the operational launch of the RUSH On Demand video platform, a virtual urgent care that went live in 2019. This platform was pivotal in caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In parallel to her role as an ACMIO, she has a faculty position with the RUSH Medical College as a Clinician Educator for the pre-clinical curriculum.  Beyond technology and education, she advocates on mental health issues that impact physicians, closing healthcare disparities and improving standards of care for our patients who lack reliable shelter, serving as the medical director of RUSH’s street medicine program.

Informatics Focus

• Emergency medicine
• Virtual Care
• Access
• Provider engagement and support
• Communications
• Academics

• Patel KA, Sexton A, Shah M, Hexom B, Gottlieb M. More Than Meets the Eye: Addressing the Role of Telemedicine in Resident Education. Ann Emerg Med. 2021 Mar 26:S0196-0644(21)00067-6. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2021.01.018. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33781605.
• Letters: Telehealth benefits patients and doctors, even during nonpandemic times. https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/letters/ct-letters-vp-071420-20200713-oojksiaijfer5moxi25t3ipgnq-story.html. The Chicago Tribune. Published July 14, 2020. Accessed July 14, 2020.
• Adams S., Shah M, Hexom B. Telemedicine Comes of Age in the COVID-19 Pandemic. https://www.acepnow.com/article/telemedicine-comes-of-age-in-the-covid-19-pandemic/. ACEPNow. Published June 16, 2020. Accessed July 14, 2020.
• Shah M, Tosto A. Industry Voices—How Rush University Medical Center's virtual investments became central to its COVID-19 response. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals-health-systems/industry-voices-how-rush-university-system-for-health-s-virtual. Fierce Healthcare Blog. Published April 13, 2020. Access April 25, 2020

Media Contributions (Informatics)

• Chicago Sun-Times, Brett Chase. Video visits, drive-up services, mobile apps: The new normal of seeing a doctor. https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/8/19/21359033/health-care-telehealth-video-doctor-visits-university-chicago-coronavirus-pandemic. August 19, 2020
• CNN, Ryan Young. Healthcare workers at Rush University Medical Center Emergency Department during Coronavirus pandemic. Aired April 4, 2020
• Schroeder, M.O. When and How to Incorporate Telehealth With the Coronavirus. https://health.usnews.com/conditions/articles/using-telemedicine-and-teletherapy-with-covid-19-circulating  Circulating. Published March 27, 2020, Accessed April 4, 2020
• Abelson, R. Doctors and Patients Turn to Telemedicine in the Coronavirus Outbreak. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/health/telemedicine-coronavirus.html  Published March 11, 2020. Accessed April 4, 2020.
• CNN, Ryan Young. Use of telemedicine in the Coronavirus pandemic. https://app.frame.io/presentations/af4dd507-40db-4cd7-ad46-171d81566e16  Aired March 2020.
• Adrienna Diaz, CBS National Evening News. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZx2SpeGXMs. Aired March 5, 2020
• ABC7 News Chicago, Evelyn Holmes. Rush Medical Center Debuts Virtual Visits for Coronavirus Symptoms. https://abc7chicago.com/5981411/. Aired March 3, 2020

Dr. Sean Bernstein is a clinician-educator and informatics leader at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and is a core faculty member of the Clinical Informatics Fellowship, where he plays a vital role in mentoring fellows and integrating advanced digital tools into clinical practice.
Dr. Bernstein focuses on the optimization of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) to enhance patient safety and clinician efficiency. His work specifically targets inpatient ambulatory workflows and the digital font door. Before joining the faculty at Rush, he completed his own Clinical Informatics Fellowship at the University of Chicago, providing him with a deep understanding of the academic and operational requirements of the field.    

Dr. Bernstein’s research and professional contributions focus on the practical application of informatics to solve systemic healthcare challenges.

• Medical School: University of Nebraska College of Medicine
• Residency: Rush University Medical Center, Internal Medicine
• Fellowship: University of Chicago Medicine, Clinical Informatics
• Graduate Degree: University of Chicago, Master of Science (MS) in Biomedical Informatics

Dr. Bernstein’s research and professional contributions focus on the practical application of informatics to solve systemic healthcare challenges.

• Implementation of a Real-Time Documentation Assistance Tool: Automated Diagnosis (AutoDx). (2024). Applied Clinical Informatics.
• A crowdsourced campaign in IT optimization to improve ease of practice. (2023). Journal of Hospital Medicine.
• Diabetes Life Expectancy Prediction Model Inputs and Results From Patient Surveys Compared With Electronic Health Record Abstraction: Survey Study. (2023). JMIR Aging.
• Hypertension RPM: A Patient Portal and Population Health Hypertension Intervention(2023). Vizient Connections Summit.
• Payer Platform Strategy - Maximizing Provider Value. (2025). Epic XGM