Edward Woo
Edward Woo specializes in the practice of creating, storing, finding, manipulating and sharing information, otherwise known as informatics, within the field of pharmacy.
The University of Mississippi electrical engineering and pharmacy alumnus (BSEE 03, BSPh 05, PharmD 07) began his informatics and pharmacy career shortly after earning his electrical engineering degree. He started as a floater pharmacist at Walgreens, became staff pharmacist, then quickly was promoted to pharmacy manager of numerous 24-hour locations throughout South Carolina and Tennessee.
After moving to Nashville, Woo took a job at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as a principal domain specialist and now serves as manager of pharmacy informatics. The Sumner native also co-created Medalogix, a Nashville-based health care technology company that analyzes home health care companies’ clinical data to identify patient risk and then helps them act to improve outcomes.
“These have been two of my more notable recent achievements,” Woo said. “Being associated with these two organizations has allowed me to provide patient care from an informatics or technology standpoint. Instead of helping one person at a time, by using informatics or IT, I am able to make decisions that could affect an entire population at a single time.”
Woo said that Ole Miss is in his blood. Both his parents and most of his family also graduated from the university.
“All my professors were my favorite,” he said. “I think that Dr. (Atef) Elsherbeni stood out because I worked with him closely on the electrical engineering website and various other projects. My favorite course was Digital Systems because it taught me to think logically or in binary terms about all possible outcomes to a problem.”
In his present position, Woo oversees outpatient pharmacy applications in terms of upgrades, implementation and sometimes development. He works with the clinical pharmacist to help develop workflows and informatics solutions that can be incorporated into various applications.
“I see myself as a liaison between the pharmacy field and the IT side,” Woo said. “I am able to translate both IT talk and pharmacy talk between the two parties.”
Woo said that being able to look at issues or problems from a technical perspective, a skill he developed while at UM, is needed in his profession.
“Engineering taught me how to solve problems rationally and sometimes using different perspectives,” he said. “With my current position, I have to anticipate the needs of pharmacy applications from a pharmacist and technician perspective. I also have to look at it from a perspective of ‘does it make sense?’ and ‘does it make sense financially?’ Electrical engineering also gave me the background IT knowledge in computers and development along with rationale thinking to be successful in my current position.”
Kevin Gardner, development officer for the UM School of Engineering, said Woo is an example of what graduates of the school can accomplish.
“Edward follows a long line of family members who are Rebel entrepreneurs,” he said. “Combining electrical engineering with pharmacy degrees has created a unique approach for bridging the gap of medicinal science and technology at Vanderbilt Medical Center. It is evident that Edward is playing a significant role in improving the health and lives for those who come in and out of Tennessee.”
Woo and his wife, Susan, have a son, Nolan, and a daughter, Merritt. In his leisure, he enjoys playing with anything electronic.
“My favorite electronic toy is probably my Raspberry Pi,” Woo said. “I also like to play golf and tennis, watch sports and hang out with the family.”