Michael Dell, president and CEO of Dell, announced the company is making a $15 million investment in computer equipment and services to support launch of the University at Buffalo's new Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

Dell's investment is critical to the creation of UB's Institute for Healthcare Informatics and establishing it on the Roosevelt Building's first floor. The 15,000-square-foot space will be renovated to accommodate Dell's high-powered computers and 100 employees from UB, Dell, Buffalo-based technology company CTG, and UB Associates, the management service organization supporting the 450 physicians in the UBMD medical practice plans. The project has the potential to create approximately 115 new high-paying jobs in computer programming and data analysis, and new entry-level positions in medical records management.

Creation of the UB Institute for Healthcare Informatics will help establish UB and the Buffalo region as a major hub for medical informatics in the SUNY system, throughout New York State and beyond.

The UB institute initially will focus on sharing data among the 450 health care practitioners who participate in UBMD, said David Dunn, MD, PhD, UB vice president for health sciences. The institute's data analysis and records management resources eventually will be extended to health care practitioners—doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.—throughout the region and New York State.