Role includes new Regenstrief Institute appointment, continuation of position at IU School of Medicine
Christy Scifres, M.D., has been named physician leader for the Learning Health System (LHS) at IU Health, Indiana’s largest and most comprehensive healthcare system with 16 hospitals. Her duties began October 5.
Created in partnership with Regenstrief Institute and the IU School of Medicine, the role will enhance patient care and build a cohesive learning ecosystem by leveraging data analytics, further integrating research into practice through process improvement, embedding a culture of learning across clinical teams and accelerating evidence-based improvements in patient outcomes through implementation science.
A clinician-leader who is an accomplished maternal-fetal medicine specialist and division chief in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at IU School of Medicine, Dr. Scifres also will serve as a research scientist at the Center for Health Services Research at the Regenstrief Institute and she will lead the Institute’s strategic initiative on learning health systems. By uniting IU Health’s operational reach, IU School of Medicine’s research and education mission and Regenstrief’s research and data leadership, this joint appointment positions Indiana to lead nationally in delivering timely, evidence-based care at scale.
Dr. Scifres’ clinical practice focuses on high-risk obstetrics, including gestational diabetes. She practices across both inpatient and outpatient settings, and her background in high-risk obstetrics equips her to navigate complex, team-based care, coordinate across specialties and integrate emerging evidence – skills directly applicable to leading an LHS. Her background in team-based care, implementation and data-informed operations positions her to lead this systemwide learning effort.
An LHS is designed to continuously and systematically integrate evidence into practice through repeatable “learn-do-measure” cycles. In this model, care teams, patients, researchers, data scientists and leaders co-create solutions; clinical workflows are informed by high-quality data; and outcomes are rigorously measured to ensure changes deliver value.
A clinician-leader prepared for systems-level impact, Dr. Scifres brings more than two decades of experience, including in high-risk pregnancy care. She joined the IU School of Medicine in 2018 and became director of maternal-fetal medicine in 2020, leading teams that care for people with complex pregnancies across IU Health.
