Ida Sim, M.D., Ph.D

Associate Professor of Medicine Director, Center for Clinical and Translational Informatics

• Medical informatics
• Clinical trial registration and reporting
• Decision support systems
• Electronic Scientific Publishing
• Evidence-based practice 
• Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
• Health information technology policy and practices

Dr. Sim's primary research interest is the design and use of clinical trial reporting systems for scientific analysis and evidence-based practice. Her NIH-funded research includes the Trial Bank Project and collaborations on two NIH Roadmap projects: the National Center for Biomedical Ontology and the Electronic Primary Care Research Network She directs the UCSF Center for Clinical and Translational Informatics and is active in medical informatics graduate education through the graduate program in Clinical and Translational Informatics. Dr. Sim is Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics.

Dr. Sim was also the Project Coordinator of the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform project, and continues to be a leading expert on the scientific and policy issues surrounding clinical trial registration and results reporting worldwide.

Recent Publications 

1. Sim I, Owens DK, Lavori PW, Rennels GD. Electronic Trial Banks: A Complementary Method for Reporting Randomized Trials. Medical Decision Making 2000; 20(4):440-450.

2. Sim I, Gorman P, Greenes RA, Haynes RB, Kaplan B, Lehmann H, Tang PC. Clinical Decision Support Systems for the Practice of Evidence-Based Medicine. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association 2001; 8:527-534.

3. Sim I, Sanders GD, McDonald KM. Evidence-Based Practice for Mere Mortals: The Role of Informatics and Health Services Research. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2002; 17(4):302-8.

4. Linder J, Sim I. Antibiotic Treatment of Acute Bronchitis in Smokers: A Systematic Review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2002; 17(3):230-4.

5. Sim I, Cummings SR. A New Framework for Describing and Quantifying Gaps Between Proof and Practice. Medical Care, 2003; 41(8):874-881 [see editorial].

6. Cuadros J, Adams A, Andriole K, Stemper R, Sim I. Comparison of Image Enhancement Methods for Visual Detection of Glaucomatous Optic Nerve Head Lesions. Proceedings of Computer Assisted Fundus Image Analysis, 2003.

7. Sim I, Berlin A. A Framework for Classifying Clinical Decision Support Systems. Proceedings of the American Medical Informatics Association; Musen MA, et al (eds). 2003; 599-603.

8. Miller RH, Sim I. Using Electronic Medical Records for Quality Improvement in Physician Practices: Barriers and Solutions. Health Affairs, Mar/Apr 2004; 23(12):116-126.

9. Sim I, Carini S, Olasov B, Jeng S. Trial Bank Publishing: Phase I Results. Proceedings of MedInfo 2004. IOS Press, Amsterdam. Fieschi M, et al (eds). 2004; 1476-1480.

10. Cuadros J, Sim I. EyePacs: An Open Source Clinical Communication System for Eye Care. Proceedings of MedInfo 2004. IOS Press, Amsterdam. Fieschi M, et al (eds). 2004; 207-11.

11. Miller R, Sim I, Newman J. Electronic Medical Records in Solo/Small Groups: A Qualitative Study of Physician User Types. Proceedings of MedInfo 2004. IOS Press, Amsterdam. Fieschi M, et al (eds). 2004; 658-662.

12. Berlin A, Sorani M, Sim I. Characteristics of Outpatient Clinical Decision Support Systems: A Taxonomic Description. Proceedings of MedInfo 2004. IOS Press, Amsterdam. Fieschi M, et al (eds). 2004; 578-81.

13. Sim I, Olasov B, Carini S. An Ontology of Randomized Trials for Evidence-Based Medicine: Content Specification and Evaluation Using the Competency Decomposition Method. Journal of Biomedical Informatics 2004; 37(2):108-119.

14. Krleza-Jeric K, Chan AW, Dickersin K, Sim I, Grimshaw, J, Gluud C. Principles of International Registration of Protocol Information and Results from Human Trials of Health-related Interventions. BMJ 2005; 330:956-958.

15. Miller R, West C, Martin T, Sim I, Granchoff C. The Value of Electronic Health Records in Solo/Small Group Practices. Health Affairs 2005; 24(5):1127-1137.

16. Sim I, Detmer D. Beyond Trial Registration: A Global Trial Bank for Clinical Trial Reporting. PLoS Medicine, 2005; 2(11):e365.

17. Gülmezoglu AM, Sim I. International Clinical Trial Registration. Any Progress? Wiener Klinische Wochenshrift, 2006 Feb;118(1-2):1-2.

18. Berlin A, Sorani M, Sim I. A Taxonomic Description of Computer-Based Clinical Decision Support Systems. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, in press. (online 9 Jan 2006

19. Sim I, Chan AW, Gülmezoglu AM, Evans T, Pang T. Clinical Trial Registration: Transparency is the Watchword. The Lancet 2006; 367(9523): 1631-1633.

20. Rubin DL, Lewis SE, Mungall CJ, Misra S, Westerfield M, Ashburner M, Sim I, Chute CG, Solbrig H, Storey M, Smith B, Noy NF, and Musen MA. The National Center for Biomedical Ontology: Advancing Biomedicine through Structured Organization of Scientific Knowledge. OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology Jun 2006, Vol. 10, No. 2: 185-198

21. Sim I. Trial Registration for Public Trust: Making the Case for Medical Devices. Journal of General Internal Medicine, Special Supplment on New Medical Devices/Technology in Health care, In press.