Dr. Prerna Dua, associate professor of health informatics and information management at Louisiana Tech University, has been honored by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) with its 2015 Triumph Award for research. The AHIMA Triumph Awards recognize the excellence, dedication and service of health information management (HIM) professionals who have made steadfast efforts to enrich the field. Dua was honored during the AHIMA’s 87th Annual Convention and Exhibit in New Orleans for her research expertise in healthcare, decision support and translational bioinformatics. “I feel very humbled and honored to receive this award,” says Dua. “It has prompted me to reflect back to my research when I started at Louisiana Tech and look at what brought me here. Louisiana Tech is my alma mater and working here has been a very rich and rewarding experience for me. “Winning the award adds an extra layer of responsibility and means working just as hard on my current and future research as I did in the past before receiving this award, to ensure the same level of quality.” Dua says the AHIMA Triumph Award also recognizes the hard work of the more than 25 research assistants/students that she has been able to hire as a result of external grants. “This award encourages new students to be diligent and gives them confirmation that if they are working on something wholeheartedly and are open to new ideas, they will be rewarded,” Dua said. “The AHIMA Triumph Awards are an important way to recognize and thank those who make a significant difference in our professional community of health information management,” said AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon. “The 2015 award winners are leaders who build our knowledge, prepare future HIM professionals and share their talent with the rest of the field.” The AHIMA represents more than 100,000 health information professionals in the United States and around the world and is committed to promoting and advocating for high quality research, best practices and effective standards in health information. With research expertise in data mining for healthcare, decision support and translational bioinformatics, Dua has published several journal and conference publications and book chapters, and has delivered presentations at the state, national, and international level. She has also co-authored a book, titled “Machine Learning in Health Informatics.” Dua believes this award will help to put Louisiana Tech’s health informatics and information management program on a national platform. “Recognizing our research efforts is a critical accomplishment for our program,” says Dua. “It will also help us attract more talented students to our bachelor’s in health informatics and information management program as well as our master’s in health informatics.”