Draft:Roderick Neame

Roderick LB Neame  M.A., Ph.D., M.B., B.Chir, was a pioneer of medical informatics; of new methods of teaching medical students; and of the implementation of national health information systems. He also continued his medical researches and published over 170 papers.

His early medical research investigated the regulation of steroid levels in the blood, exploring the intimate anatomical arrangement of the adrenal cortex and medulla, and learning to understand better the nature of cardiogenic ‘shock’ (as it relates to steroids and catecholamines).

Dr Neame started developing new teaching methods for medical students when he was recruited in 1977 by the University of Newcastle (NSW) to help teach their new medical program. The founding teaching members designed an entirely new type of medical school;

•    totally integrated (i.e. not driven by the disciplines, but by the needs of new doctors)

•    community orientated (i.e. guided by the needs and expectations of the community)

•    and problem based (i.e. the study content was dictated by the prevalence, seriousness and treat-ability of common healthcare problems and issues).

Within 5 years the majority of Australian medical schools were using these techniques in significant parts of their program, and Dr Neame started advising new medical schools in Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Bahrain.

As  computers became more widely available, Dr Neame increasingly sought to incorporate computer-aided learning into medical teaching, culminating with his involvement in the Caribbean International University of the Health Sciences, in St Kitts. Together with Taskcare Ltd, they developed the first e-learning system to manage all aspects of an educational program, enabling them to deliver the entire medical training course remotely and on-line. Their system included e-assessments/examinations, and online e-tutorials, e-lectures and group discussions.

In 1991 Dr Neame became chief consultant to the New Zealand Ministry of Health advising on the design, development and implementation of their new Health Information infrastructure (NZHIS). This was the first national system to connect every care service and provider, recording all care events, to build care records for all users of the system, accessible (with consent) to all other providers caring for that patient. This required interfacing with existing systems, which led to Dr Neame’s increasing involvement in health informatics standards: and raised issues of data privacy, in which Dr Neame became heavily involved.

Roderick was the son of brewery director Laurence Neame and composer Shena Fraser. From his father (an international quarter-miler) he inherited an ability to run fast, breaking many long-standing school athletics records. He used the musical ear inherited from his mother to play string bass with Cambridge’s Idle Hours trad jazz band, and was a member of the Cambridge Footlights.

Positions held

2009-2012 Adjunct Professor of Medical Informatics, University of Queensland

1999-2004   Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Health Sciences, International University of the Health Sciences, St Kitts WI

1996-2013 Hon Senior Lecturer in the Kent Institute of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Kent at Canterbury

1997-1998 Managing Director, Willett Information Solutions Ltd,

1994-1995 Consultant and director of health service audits to Audit Commission for England and Wales

1993- Member and project team expert, various UK and CEN (EC) and ASTM (USA) national and international standards committees

1991-1997 Chief consultant to the New Zealand Ministry of Health for the New Zealand Health Information Service (NZHIS)

1991-1994 Chair, Australian and New Zealand Committee on Standards in Health Informatics; inaugural appointment

1991-1994 Area Director for Medical Informatics, Hunter Area Health Service, NSW

1987-1991 Founding Director, Medical Informatics Unit, University of Newcastle, NSW

1983-1988 Director, Newcastle-Arabian Gulf Universities Collaboration Project,

1977-1991 Senior Lecturer in Human Physiology, University of Newcastle, NSW

Selected Publications

Neame RLB. 2014 Privacy Protection for Personal Health Information and Shared Care Records. Informatics in Primary Care  Vol 21 No 2.

Neame, RLB  2013 Effective Sharing of Records and Maintaining Privacy. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics

Neame R, 2012  Health Informatics (447 pages).

Neame,R. 2012  Design Principles in the Development of (Public) Health Information Infrastructures. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics Vol 4, No 1, 2012

Neame, R, 2011  Health Informatics – the bare essentials  (43 pages)

Neame, R  2011 Health Informatics – A comprehensive Overview

Neame R.,2008  Privacy and health information: health cards offer a workable solution. Inform Prim Care. 2008;16(4):263-70.

Neame, RLB and Olson, MJ (2004). Security Issues arising in establishing a regional health information infrastructure. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 73, 285-290.

Neame RLB (2000) Healthcare Information Management and Systems …with less fears and tears. World Bank Human Development week module 01 March 2000: World Bank: Washington DC

Neame RLB (2000) Communications and EHR: authenticating Who’s who is vital. IMIA WG4 Working Conference, Victoria BC June 2000

Neame RLB and Olson M. (2000) Keeping your EHR Private: Unique Identifiers need to be used with care. TEPR 2000, San Francisco

Neame RLB (2000) Creating an Infrastructure for the Productive Sharing of Clinical Information. Topics in Health Information  Management, 2000, 20(3), 85-91

Neame RLB (2000) Healthcare Information Management and Systems …with less fears and tears. World Bank Human Development week module 01 March 2000:

Neame RLB (1997)  Smart cards - the key to trustworthy health information systems. BMJ vol 314 (22 February), 573577, 1997

Neame RLB (1997) Health Information Privacy and confidentiality: a case study of the Antipodes. British Journal of Healthcare Computing and Information Management vol 14(2) pp 29-42, (March) 1997

Neame RLB (1997) Managing Health Data Privacy and Security: a Case Study from New Zealand. In Personal Medical Information - security engineering and ethics, Anderson R (ed). Springer Verlag (1997) 225-232

Neame RLB (1997) Healthcare Communications, the Internet, Network Computing and Smart Cards. Proceedings of the Asia and Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (Sydney, August)  HISA:Victoria, p 112

Neame, RLB (1997) Privacy, Confidentiality and Health Information: Issues, Options and a Way Forward. Proceedings of the Asia and Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (Sydney, August)  HISA:Victoria, p 92

Neame RLB (1998). Smart Cards: a vital tool in countering Cybercrime? Global Cybercrime 98 Conference, Royal Society, London, November 1998.

Neame RLB (1998). Confidentiality versus Access to Health Information: A Moving Target. International Conference on Telehealth, Kuala Lumpur, November 1998

Neame RLB  and Olson MJ (1998). How can sharing clinical information be made to work? Proceedings of MEDINFO ’98

Neame RLB (1997)  Smart cards - the key to trustworthy health information systems. BMJ vol 314 (22 February), 573577, 1997

Neame RLB. (1996)  Privacy and Security Issues in a wide area health communications network. International Journal of Biomedical Computing 43 (1996) 123-127

Neame, R.L.B. and Olson, M. (1996)  Implementation of an on-line national patient index, and measures required to protect personal privacy: a case study. Proceedings of SHIMR 96 International Symposium on Health Information Management Research. 25-30 Sheffield March 1996;

Neame, R.L.B. and Olson, M. (1996) Measures Implemented to Protect Personal Privacy for an On-line National Patient Index: A Case Study - Topics in Health Information Management 17 (2), 18-25. 1996

Neame R.L.B. (1996) Preserving Personal Privacy in a National Health Event and Encounter Reporting and Analysis System. AMIA Spring Congress, Kansas City, June 1996

Neame, R.L.B. (1996) Human issues in the Development of Regional (National or Provincial) Health Information Systems and Services. Medical Informatics Europe ‘96 (MIE96 Copenhagen) J  Brender et al (eds), IOS Press 3-7, 1996

Neame, R.L.B. (1996) Managing Health Data Privacy and Security: a case study from New Zealand. Workshop on Personal Information Security, Engineering and Ethics. Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge, 21-22 June 1996; Pre-proceedings pages 207-215

Neame, R.L.B. (1995) Privacy and Security issues in a Wide Area Health Communications Network. Proceedings of the Data Protection and Security Working Conference of IMIA WG4, 123-129, (Helsinki, November 1995)

Neame, R.L.B. (1995). Strategic issues in developing a regional health information network. Romanian Medical Informatics Society meeting MEDINF’95, (November 1995)

Audit Commission (1995) A study of Information Management and Systems in the Acute Hospital (Study directed by R.L.B.Neame). London: HMSO

Neame, R.L.B. (1995) The Impact of Law and Ethics on Electronic Health Records. Meeting of the Dutch Society for Medical Informatics on the Electronic Patient Record, AMICE 95, VMBI:Amsterdam, 289-296; 1995

Neame, R.L.B. (1995)  The crucial roles of standards and strategy in developing a regional health information network. International Journal of Biomedical Computing 40, 95-100

Neame, R.L.B. and J. Johnston (1994)  Developing A National Health Information Network:Insights From Experiences In New Zealand   Proceedings of HC94 (March 1994), Harrogate, 503-509

Johnston, J. and R.L.B. Neame (1994)  A National On-line Population-based Index of Healthcare Consumers:Issues and Insights from the New Zealand Experience. Proceedings of Medical Informatics Europe (MIE 94) (May 22-6) Lisbon 320-327

Benson T.J.R and R.L.B. Neame (1994)  Healthcare Computing: A Guide to Information Management and Systems. Harlow:Longmans

Neame, R.L.B. (1994)  Integrated Circuit (smart) cards - a key technology for health information networks. Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics, IMIA:Singapore, November 10-12, p96

Neame, R.L.B. (1994)  The crucial role of Standards in developing a regional health information network. Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics, IMIA:Singapore, November 10-12, p102

Neame, R.L.B. (1994)  Addressing the need for health information privacy in the age of global networks. Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics, IMIA:Singapore, November 10-12, p112

Neame, R.L.B. (1993) Privacy: what needs to be done and is there a role for a standard? Proceedings of the Health Informatics Association of New South Wales Second Annual Conference, Pokolbin, February 1993, pp2-9

Neame, R.L.B. (1993) Developments in Health Informatics within the Standards Associations of Australia and New Zealand. In: Progress in Standardization in Health Care Informatics (GJE De Moor et al (eds)). Amsterdam:IOS Press 25-31

Neame, R.L.B. (1993) Strategic Planning Issues relating to Information Privacy. New Zealand Public Sector I.T. Summit: IIR Conferences, Wellington, 28-29 May 1993

Neame, R.L.B. (1993) The Sorrento Model: An approach to Integration and Community Orientation through Health Information Systems. Proceedings of the Inaugural National Health Informatics Conference, Brisbane, 2-3 August 1993, p 279-287

Neame, R.L.B. (1993) Smart Cards - Clever People. (Invited Presentation). Proceedings of the First Joint Congress of The Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators and the Australian College of Health Service Executives, (28-30 July, 1993), Brisbane, 173-178

Neame, R.L.B. (1992) Patient held Medical Record Cards: What are the issues and options? Health Informatics Association of New South Wales Occasional Paper No 6 Sydney:HIANSW.

Neame, R.L.B. (1992) Classification and coding systems in Healthcare environments. Health Informatics Association of New South Wales Occasional Paper No 7 Sydney:HIANSW.

Neame, R.L.B. (1992) Planning for Information Technology: what are the steps that can help make it happen? Health Informatics Association of New South Wales Occasional Paper No 8 Sydney:HIANSW.

Neame, R.L.B. (1992) Defining the Role of Smart Cards in a Health Information Network. (Invited Presentation). Proceedings of the 4th Global Conference on Patient Cards and the Computerisation of Health Records, Berlin June 1992, pages 25-25g

Neame, R.L.B. (1992) A National Health Communications Network? Issues of Privacy and Security. Proceedings of the Australian Health Informatics Association (Victoria) Conference, Melbourne, August 1992.

Neame, R.L.B. (1992) Standards in Health Informatics: who needs them and for what? Informatics in Healthcare Australia, 1 (2), 27-30

Neame, R.L.B. (1992) Standards and your Hospital MIS: what are the important issues? Sydney:Institute for International Research, 19 November 1992.

Neame, R.L.B. (1991) Health Informatics Standards. Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine Newsletter 22(4), 18