Celebrating 50 Years of Innovation in Health Informatics
Founded in 1964 by Dr. G. Octo Barnett, the Laboratory of Computer Science has been innovating healthcare for half a century. The advancements made by LCS have enabled hospitals to provide better, more efficient service, and have improved patient outcomes and quality of care. From the development of some of the earliest electronic medical records to the creation of a programming language that remains the basis of systems at many large hospitals today, LCS has played an active role in shaping the modern health informatics field.
Our Founder
G. Octo Barnett, MD
Dr. G. Octo Barnett is the founder and former Senior Scientific Director of the Laboratory of Computer Science at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is internationally recognized as one of the founding fathers of medical informatics. The programming language known as M, Caché, or MUMPS, which remains in widespread use today as the foundation of numerous clinical systems, was invented in LCS under his leadership. He was co-developer of COSTAR, one of the nation’s first computerized electronic health records, and of DXplain, one of the best known, widely used diagnostic decision support systems. Dr. Barnett is a founding fellow and former president of the American College of Medical Informatics and received the ACMI Morris Collen Award of Excellence. He is also a founder and original member of the American Medical Informatics Association.