Conference Information

The Missouri Rural Health Association (MRHA), in partnership with University of Missouri School of Medicine and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), will host the Rural Health Workforce Development Conference Tuesday, April 1 through Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at the Holiday Inn Executive Center, Columbia, Missouri.

The Rural Health Workforce Development Conference is ideal for health care practitioners, health care administrators, students, HR professionals, nonprofit organizations, and businesses with a vested interest in rural health care and attracting qualified professionals to serve rural communities. There are no refunds for this development conference.

Poster Sessions

We are currently looking for poster session submissions. The development conference is a joint effort between the MU Rural Track Program and the Missouri Rural Health Association.

Phillip Payne, MD, Chief Health AI Officer

Dr. Payne serves as the Chief Health AI Officer for BJC Healthcare and Washington University Medicine, and he is the founding Director of their joint Center for Health AI. He also holds the Janet and Bernard Becker Professorship and is the founding Director of the Institute for Informatics, Data Science, and Biostatistics (I2DB) at Washington University School of Medicine. Additionally, Dr. Payne is a Professor of General Internal Medicine and Computer Science and Engineering. With over 300 publications, he leads a dynamic research group that addresses areas such as: 1) AI-driven methods for discovering and analyzing biomolecular and clinical phenotypes, 2) interventional applications of electronic health records and clinical decision support, 3) human factors and workflow optimization in healthcare IT, and 4) the development and assessment of data sharing and analytics platforms to support high-value, agile healthcare systems and research initiatives. Dr. Payne is an elected fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI), American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI). He currently serves as President-elect of the AMIA, the leading professional organization in Biomedical and Health Informatics. Beyond academia, Dr. Payne is an active entrepreneur, founding multiple digital health companies and serving in advisory and governance roles with various health and life sciences companies and venture capital firms.