Tanya Pinkham

Education

Doctorate, Education, University of New England, 2024

  • Dissertation: Rural Health Primary Care Provider Perceptions of Electronic Health Record Training

Graduate Certificate, Health Data Analytics, University of New England, 2020

Masters, Health Informatics, Kaplan University, 2017

Bachelors, Psychology, University of Maine, 2009

Professional Affiliations, Certifications & Boards

Professional Affiliation: ISACA New England Chapter (Candidate pursuing Certification in Risk and Information Systems Control)

Certifications: Lean Six Sigma Healthcare Green Belt & AI Operational Excellence; CITI Program Conflicts of Interest, Health Information Privacy & Security, Social & Behavioral Conduct of Research

Board Member: Institutional Review Board, Northern Light Health

Background

Tanya is a digital health leader with over 15 years of experience bridging the gap between healthcare systems, R1 academic research, and enterprise technology. As the Assistant Director for the University of Maine Institute of Medicine, she serves as an operational and strategic leader, advancing statewide health initiatives, research partnerships, and program development.

A lifelong native of Maine, Tanya has an extensive background in health information technology, having led enterprise-wide Electronic Health Record (EHR) initiatives for Maine Medical Center and Northern Light Health. Her expertise encompasses the full lifecycle of EHR systems—including Oracle Cerner and Epic—from back-end architectural build and testing to front-end clinical education and workflow optimization. Her doctoral research focused on the intersection of technology and education, specifically examining how to improve EHR training effectiveness for rural health clinicians through adult learning theory.

At the Institute of Medicine, Tanya architects statewide collaborations, directs the planning of the annual Biomedical Science and Engineering Research Symposia and negotiates complex MOUs across university departments and external healthcare and industry organizations. She manages internal pilot funding, including Faculty Seed Grants and Graduate Student Summer Fellowships, ensuring robust support for interdisciplinary research across the state.

In addition to her administrative leadership, Tanya is deeply involved in research governance. She serves as an appointed member of the Northern Light Health Institutional Review Board (IRB), where she applies her expertise in HIPAA compliance, NIST standards, and human research protections to ensure the ethical conduct of clinical studies. As a Lean Six Sigma Healthcare Green Belt and current CRISC candidate with ISACA, she is dedicated to optimizing data integrity and security risk management to enhance both research outcomes and patient care.

Strategic Expertise

  • Informatics Leadership: EHR Strategy, Workflow Redesign, and Interoperability Standards
  • Research Administration: Strategic Partnership development, Faculty Seed Grant management, and Graduate Fellowship coordination
  • Governance & Risk: IRB-Leadership, Software Risk Assessments & Vendor Management, and Health Information Privacy & Security (HIPS)
  • Educational Innovation: Instructional Design, Adult Learning Theory, and Workforce Development