Anthony Blash

Biography

Anthony Blash received his Bachelors in Computer Science from Kean University in Union NJ, his Bachelors in Pharmacy from The Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy at Long Island University in Brooklyn NY and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions at Creighton University in Omaha NE.

Dr. Blash has completed the Pharmacy Informatics residency at Creighton University’s School of Pharmacy and Health Professions in Omaha, NE and holds the distinction of being the first pharmacy graduate in the nation to complete a pharmacy informatics residency. He is a former Assistant Professor of Informatics at Drake University’s College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences in Des Moines, IA.

Dr. Blash is primarily responsible for teaching in the healthcare informatics concentration at Belmont. As a result of meeting the Health Information Management System Society’s (HIMSS) rigorous standards for quality health IT or healthcare education, the College was named a HIMSS Approved Education Partner (AEP) in 2015. Belmont becomes the only pharmacy school in the nation authorized to offer HIMSS-approved review courses and training programs that prepare candidates for advanced knowledge in health IT or healthcare.

In addition, this curriculum serves as a solid foundation to prepare the student to take the Certified Associate in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CAHIMS) exam. CAHIMS is a new HIMSS health IT certification designed for emerging professionals within the industry (five years or less of experience). This certification demonstrates knowledge of health IT and management systems, facilitating entry-level careers in health IT. Many organizations recognize the CAHIMS for providing an international standard of requisite knowledge for certification; thereby assisting employers, the public and members of health professions in assessing healthcare information and management systems professionals. As Belmont’s sponsor of the HIMSS/Belmont partnership, Dr. Blash has designed a four-course sequence of classes to prepare Belmont student pharmacists for healthcare informatics and to sit for the CAHIMS certification. The college saw its first students certify at the CAHIMS level in 2015 and expects twenty to thirty students to certify each year moving forward. As a HIMSS Approved Education Partner, Belmont becomes the only pharmacy school in the nation with a Healthcare Informatics concentration leading to an internationally recognized certification in Healthcare Informatics which may be obtained before the students’ experiential rotations, residency inquiries and job searches begin.

With students at the center of everything we do, Dr. Blash has helped guide Belmont's pharmacy students to success in many real life informatics projects including:

• Historic Collaboration: Belmont University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Belmont Data Collaborative Pioneer Innovative APPE
• Utilizing SQL and Data Visualization: Belmont University Pharmacy Informatics Students Tackle Hypertension Research
• Belmont Pharmacy Class of 2025 Gains Advanced Data Analytics Skills for Healthcare
• Belmont University Pharmacy Healthcare Informatics Team deliver on Smart Pump Operations
• Belmont University Pharmacy Healthcare Informatics Students Tackle Data Visualization Using Python

Dr. Blash came to the Belmont University College of Pharmacy from corporate America, having most recently held the position of Pharmacist Informaticist at Adventist Health West Corporate Headquarters in Roseville CA, where he was responsible for pharmacy informatics and clinical decision support initiatives at 19 hospitals and 130 physician and rural health clinics.

His practice site in Nashville is at the Belmont Data Collaborative, a university wide initiative that looks to infuse data into every facet of the culture and curriculum at Belmont through a “Data Mindset” that empowers individual to think different with data and to provide a framework for community level analytics and projects for good.

View Dr. Blash's Curriculum Vitae