Karl Matuszewski Joins First DataBank as Vice President, Clinical and Editorial Knowledge Base Services

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First DataBank, a leading provider of drug databases that help drive patient safety, today announced that Karl Matuszewski, MS, PharmD has joined the company as vice president, clinical and editorial knowledge base services. He is based in the company’s headquarters in South San Francisco, California.

“As a pioneer in this field for decades, First DataBank is extremely well positioned to create new and essential products that improve the quality and safety of pharmacotherapy. I look forward to making a contribution toward this effort.”

In this executive leadership role, Dr. Matuszewski will guide editorial policy development for the creation and maintenance of the company’s knowledge base services and disease decision support products including the National Drug Data File (NDDF) Plus™, OrderView Med Knowledge Base™, and all related clinical modules. Additionally, Matuszewski will serve as the internal and external representative of clinical content for all First DataBank products and modules.

“We are pleased to have Karl join the leadership team at First DataBank,” said Greg Dorn, MD, president and CEO, First DataBank. “His deep clinical expertise and knowledge of drug informatics will be of great value to First DataBank and will ensure that the clinical content we publish will continue to evolve to support our vision for innovative client solutions.”

Matuszewski joins First DataBank from Gold Standard/Elsevier, where he was vice president and editor-in-chief. As the senior clinical drug informatics content officer, he led the clinical editorial team to develop, produce, and maintain various drug and toxicology database products.

Earlier in his career, Matuszewski was senior director of the University HealthSystem Consortium’s (UHC) Clinical Knowledge Service, where he was responsible for the development and direction of all technology assessment efforts. The UHC is an alliance of more than 100 academic medical centers and their affiliated hospitals representing approximately 90% of the nation's non-profit academic medical centers.

“I am excited to join First DataBank at this critical time in the evolution of health information,” said Dr. Matuszewski. “As a pioneer in this field for decades, First DataBank is extremely well positioned to create new and essential products that improve the quality and safety of pharmacotherapy. I look forward to making a contribution toward this effort.”

Matuszewski received Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Illinois. Additionally, he obtained a Master of Science degree in Health Systems Management from Rush University, where he holds a faculty appointment as an associate professor. Dr. Matuszewski has published numerous articles related to the appropriate and efficient use of drugs and devices and was a consultant for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's Technology Evaluation and Coverage Program, which assesses medical technologies for national coverage and payment guidelines.

About First DataBank

First DataBank, a subsidiary of Hearst Corporation, drives patient safety and healthcare quality by providing drug databases that are used within information systems that touch every aspect of healthcare. For more than 30 years, we have partnered with system developers to integrate and optimize our drug information to improve user workflow and enhance clinical decision making by those entrusted with treating patients at the point-of-need. For more information about First DataBank, call 800-633-3453 or visit www.firstdatabank.com.

© 2011 First DataBank, Inc. A subsidiary of Hearst Corporation. All trademarks mentioned herein are the properties of their respective owners.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6574233&lang=en