For Immediate Release January 31, 2005

For More Information Contact: Rich Schneider, 317-278-4564 rcschnei@iupui.edu

Guidant Foundation Creates Fellowships in Health Informatics

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana University School of Informatics announced that the Guidant Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization supported by contributions from Guidant Corporation, has funded two fellowships for graduate students in Health Informatics at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

The recipients of the Health Informatics fellowships will be graduate students pursuing advanced training and skills related to knowledge discovery in health databases. Knowledge Discovery in Data (KDD) is the process of finding complex patterns and relationships in data. The Health Informatics fellowships funded by the Guidant Foundation will be awarded in 2005 and 2006.

"In general, the healthcare industry lags far behind other industries in terms of information technology sophistication," said Dr. Anna McDaniel, Director of Health Informatics Graduate Program at Indiana University . "Health industry leaders have a tremendous volume of data in their systems not thoroughly analyzed or understood. Thanks to the Guidant Foundation, graduates with KDD tools and techniques could offer invaluable insight into addressing issues of healthcare cost and quality."

The fellowship will support Health Informatics graduate students researching the application of knowledge discovery techniques to health data, as well as issues relating to knowledge representation and knowledge management in health data.

IU's Health Informatics program is the fastest growing graduate program in the School of Informatics . It admitted its first students in 2002 and now has over 25 students enrolled in the program. The Guidant Foundation's support for graduate students is IU Health Informatics first fellowship.

"These fellowships will advance the problem-solving possibilities of the Program, while providing the health care industry with two highly trained information technology professionals," said James Baumgardt, President, Guidant Foundation. "I am pleased the Guidant Foundation was able to support the innovative Health Informatics Program at IU."

The Guidant Corporation, a world leader in the design and development of cardiovascular products, established the Guidant Foundation in 1995 to support charitable and educational programs that fulfill its philanthropic mission. The Guidant Foundation is a separate, nonprofit charitable organization whose giving exceeded $12 million in 2003. The foundation awards grants in the areas of education, health care, and community services. For more information, visit the Foundation website at www.guidant.com/foundation. ###