The Rita D. Zielstorff Nursing Informatics Leadership Award

2017 Recipient

Mark Sugrue MSN, RN-BC, FHIMSS, CPHIMS 

Mark is a leader in New England informatics for the more than 20 years. He is currently the Chief Nursing Informatics Officer (CNIO) and ACNO at U Mass Medical Center. 

He has been an active member of the Nursing Information Systems Council of New England (Past President), Boston Area Nursing Informatics Consortium (Chair 2004-2007) and instrumental in the founding of the New England Nursing Informatics Consortium (Past President). The years he served as President and Board member was a time of transition. He provided leadership and support to the organization that survived, thrived and eventually became NENIC. He was one of NENIC’s Founding Board Members in 2007. Currently Mark serves on the NENIC Board as a National Representative and is our key point of contact for HIMSS (Healthcare Information System Society). 

He has been a significant part of NENIC’s program planning committee, securing key speakers, and a ‘jack of all trades’ . Mark was instrumental in launching the Annual Symposium. He secured support form various consulting assuring a smooth program day. He also was key in assuring we had a wiki, web site, project planning tools and a prospectus to use for securing exhibitor support. Mark is always cool and always available no matter how small or large the task that needs to be completed. 

In addition, Mark holds, or has held, several leadership positions in local and national organizations such as the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Committee (Chair), HIMSS Nursing Informatics Task Force (National Chair), Technology, Informatics, Guiding Education Reform (Board Member), and the Organization of Nurse Leaders of MA/RI/NH/CT (Informatics and Technology sub-committee-Past Chair). Most recently he is serving as a member of the HIMSS US Board of Directors (2017-2020). 

Mark is a respected role model in the community across disciplines. His career has been varied serving a number of positions as a Reservist, an RN in the Department of Corrections, and an EMT. Yet it is his diverse experience as a Nurse and Healthcare consultant that has made his journey unique. As a Healthcare Consultant, he lead multiple large E.H.R. implementations, facilitated many system selections, clinical transformation projects and a pricing transformation projects that ultimately lead to an EPIC Hospital Resolute Billing certification. His ability to span many roles is only surpassed by his dedication patient care and the nurse at the point of care. 

He currently is past  Chief Nursing Informatics Officer (CNIO) at the Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. In this recent role, he is the nursing executive responsible for the strategic and operational leadership in the development, deployment, and optimization of clinical information systems. He was also a key member in the implementation of the most recent electronic health record (EPIC). In this role, he was responsible for all aspects of nursing education for a 1500-member nursing workforce. 

Mark has over 9 publications and papers spanning diverse topics such as leadership, clinical transformation and HIPAA. He is also a contributing author to one of the most well respected books on Nursing Informatics, Saba’s Essentials of Nursing Informatics, 6th edition. 

He is a frequently sought National speaker varied topics from Business Analytics, ICD-10, Meaningful Use, Consumer Directed Healthcare, HIPAA and Nursing Informatics. I personally think Mark could give a thoughtful and informatics presentation on almost any healthcare and informatics related topic.