Cimino pioneered the theory and formalisms of
medical concept representation underpinning the use of
controlled medical vocabularies in
electronic medical records in support of
clinical decision-making. Training under Octo Barnett at Harvard University, he also contributed to the initiation of the
Unified Medical Language System. In addition, he actively practices medicine as an internist and has devoted many years to develop and innovate clinical information systems that have been integrated in the
New York–Presbyterian Hospital, and the
Columbia University Medical Center. Cimino currently serves as Professor of Medicine, inaugural Director of the Informatics Institute, and Informatics Director for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the
UAB School of Medicine. He was previously Chief of the Laboratory for Informatics Development at the
NIH Clinical Center and Professor of Biomedical Informatics at
Columbia University (2002-2007). At Columbia, he mentored
Yves A. Lussier. He remains an adjunct professor of Biomedical Informatics at Columbia. He continues to teach at Columbia University as an Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Informatics. Cimino has over 600 publications; as of June 2025, his
h-index is 81. ==References==