Rick Schooler, CIO and vice president of Orlando Health, an integrated delivery system based in central Florida, has been elected as the recipient of the 2011 John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year Award. Schooler was given the award by the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). Schooler will receive the award at the 2012 Annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas on Feb. 23, 2012.

The boards of directors for both HIMSS and CHIME annually select the recipient of the award. It recognizes health IT executives who have made significant contributions to their organization and demonstrated innovative leadership through effective use of technology.

"It is truly a great honor to receive this year's John E. Gall award, which I personally regard as the ultimate industry recognition for healthcare CIOs,” Schooler said in a statement. “Since leaving the telecommunications industry in 1991 to begin my healthcare career, I have had the great privilege of knowing and working with many of the former Gall award recipients. I can say with great admiration and gratitude that my joining this roster of professionals places me in very good company."

The award is named in honor of the late John E. Gall Jr., who pioneered implementation of the first fully integrated medical information system in the world at California's El Camino Hospital in the 1960s.