Ask Pamela Arora, who was just named CIO of the Year by CHIME and HIMSS, about her career achievements and she quickly moves the spotlight to her staff.

“My proudest achievement as a CIO is leading a high-performing team,” she said.

Arora rattled off several examples: Children’s Health in Dallas climbed to Stage 7 on the HIMSS Analytics EMRAM scale, obtained HITRUST Common Security Framework Certification, was named a Most Wired Hospital, earned an AHIMA Grace Award for taking innovative approaches to using health information management and snagged an AHA-CHIME Transformational Award for its work in cybersecurity, among others.

Healthcare IT News asked Arora what she perceived to be her greatest strength as a CIO, whether as a woman in technology she encountered inequity, and her about her primary professional mission.

Q:  What drew you to a career in healthcare IT?
A:  While we all have a personal story that involves healthcare, we all have one thing in common. Whether we are the patient, or one of our loved ones is the patient, we want our physicians and clinicians to have every resource to be able to deliver the best possible care. This is what drew me to a career in healthcare IT. While technology may not always be visible, our work makes a difference in the lives of patients – in our case, we are making life better for children. What could be better than that?

Q:  What do you think is your biggest strength as CIO, and what are you working to improve?
A: I believe my biggest strength as a CIO is my understanding of both the technology and healthcare fields. Early in my career, I had the opportunity to gain exposure to multiple industries – and valuable insights from those experiences. However, the last 15 years of my career have been focused in the healthcare industry. I have found that a deep knowledge of healthcare is critical because of its regulatory implications and the complicated nature of the work across the continuum of care both inside and outside the walls of the organization.

One of the areas we’re continuously working to improve is the understanding and adoption of a culture in which data security remains in the forefront. As the cybersecurity landscape continues to evolve, we are working to promote awareness and education of cybersecurity threats and defenses so that our organization and patient data remains secure.

Q: As a woman in health IT, have you ever encountered inequity in pay or otherwise?
A: I have been fortunate to work in organizations where there’s a great deal of diversity, and the individual’s ability to contribute was more important than gender. Because of these experiences, I haven’t perceived a great deal of inequality personally. Yet we know that the issue exists.

If you look at the Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration report, Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation, there is still a gap; however, I’m encouraged that the gender gap in pay for women in STEM careers is smaller. Anecdotally, having worked in other industries, I believe that healthcare has made a great deal of progress on this front, and I’m pleased to be a part of an industry where the gap is shrinking. There is still work to do, and it’s incumbent on each organization to value the contributions of its people, regardless of gender or any other perceived differentiator.

Q: What do you view as your primary mission as CIO?
A: We have a sacred responsibility at Children’s Health; we are entrusted to care for some of the most fragile patients in the community. My primary mission is to make sure we have the technology, tools, and people to facilitate the highest levels of care for our patients and their families.

Q: What is your proudest achievement?
A: From a personal standpoint, my proudest achievement is my lovely, bright, and talented daughter (she is pursuing a STEM education), who definitely makes life better for me!

From a career standpoint, my proudest achievement as a CIO is leading a high-performing team. I’m fortunate because I get to work with an excellent team of dedicated technology professionals. We work for an organization that has a strong willingness to adopt and innovate healthcare with technology tools, and we do it all in support of our mission: to make life better for children.

Arora will receive the CHIME and HIMSS CIO of the Year award on Feb. 21, 2017, at the HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition. 

HIMSS17 runs from Feb. 19-23, 2017 at the Orange County Convention Center.

This article is part of our ongoing coverage of HIMSS17. Visit Destination HIMSS17 for previews, reporting live from the show floor and after the conference.