Dr. Bush has more than 20 years of experience contributing to the field of informatics, using large healthcare databases, and examining human/computer interaction in multiple healthcare settings including military treatment facilities, academic hospitals, specialty- and community-based clinics, and pediatric programs. She has initiated and developed clinical research studies as well as provided statistical consultations for projects in research areas as varied as patient-centered outcomes, women’s health, traumatic brain injury, and birth defects.
Her AHRQ (K99/R00 HS022404) and PCORI funding focused on patient-centered outcomes and the use of the electronic health record (EHR), particularly among vulnerable populations. As Principal Investigator of Adolescent Disease Autonomy using Patient Portal Technology (ADAPPT), she examined the effects of pediatric and adolescent patient portal use on patient engagement. During her PCORI award, she developed an interdisciplinary team including patients, parents, caretakers, and researchers to address the issue of transition to adult medical care among teenagers with Spina Bifida. Building upon her work creating community partnerships and using patient portals to support patient engagement, her current projects focus on digital health education, patient-centered responses in the EHR, and structured electronic data capture.
She has served as a member of the American Medical Information Association (AMIA) Academic Forum and provided AMIA Nursing Informatics Program Director leadership. Dr. Bush has authored several peer-reviewed articles on health informatics, patient engagement, adolescents, and patient portal use. In 2018, Dr. Bush was part of the inaugural cohort of the AMIA Fellows program.
Dr. Bush received her bachelor of arts degree, cum laude, from Princeton University, her master of arts degree from the University of London while on a Rotary International Fellowship, and her master of public health degree from the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University, where she received the Outstanding Epidemiology Student award. She received her PhD from the UCSD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health and was awarded dissertation funding from an NIH National Center for Research Resources M01 grant (5M01RR000827-25). Her dissertation research focused on assessing the effect of physical activity on bone mineral density among a cohort of women who had been varsity athletes.