Patricia Flatley Brennan, R.N., Ph.D Closed Now

Dr. Patricia Flatley Brennan is one of the most influential figures in the field of biomedical informatics, health data systems, and nursing informatics. She is currently the Director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world’s largest biomedical library and a vital hub for global health information and data systems. Appointed in 2016, she became the first nurse and first woman to lead the NLM in its history.

Her professional journey began as a practicing nurse, where she quickly recognized the importance of data, technology, and information flow in patient care. This led her into the fields of engineering and biomedical informatics, where she combined clinical knowledge with computational science to develop innovative health information systems.

Dr. Brennan’s research career has centered on patient-facing technologies—tools designed to empower individuals to actively manage their health. She led groundbreaking projects in personal health informatics, including the development of platforms that allowed patients to access, track, and share their medical information long before patient portals became mainstream.

At the NLM, Dr. Brennan oversees programs that support genomics, precision medicine, data interoperability, and artificial intelligence in healthcare. She has guided the library’s transformation into a leader in open science, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles, and global collaboration in health data exchange.

Her contributions also include advocacy for nursing informatics, ensuring that nurses and allied health professionals play a central role in designing and implementing health IT systems. Dr. Brennan has received numerous awards for her leadership, including recognition from the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA).

Through her leadership, Dr. Brennan has expanded the reach of the NLM beyond a repository of knowledge into a catalyst for digital innovation in global healthcare. Her vision continues to shape the integration of patient care, research, and data science for the future of health systems worldwide.