Tao appointed associate university librarian for UIC Library of the Health Sciences

Donghua Tao, PhD, has been appointed by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees as the associate university librarian for the UIC Library of the Health Sciences, effective May 30, 2023.

Tao has more than 20 years of experience in health sciences librarianship and informatics. Since 2018, she was the assistant director for information services at Saint Louis University Medical Center Library, overseeing public serves to the entire medical campus, including the College for Public Health and Social Justice, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Doisy College of Health Sciences (Allied Health), and the Center for Advanced Dental Education. In addition to providing library administration, reference instruction and information services, Tao collaborated with faculty on credit hour courses in the Center of InterProfessional Education; research and publications in library practice, consumer informatics, system evaluation and usability; personal health information management; and research grants.

Tao is a strong advocate for the health sciences library and information profession and dedicated to making health sciences libraries collaborators and partners in teaching, research and patient care. She envisions a health sciences library as a center of intellectual inquiry, an information hub, a collaborative research space (both physically and virtually), and an inclusive and comfortable place for library users and colleagues.

Tao is engaged in networking and collaborations locally, regionally and internationally. She completed the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Leadership Program in 2021-2022, and she participated in the inaugural Women in AMIA Leadership Program in 2019. She now chairs the WIA Steering Committee and actively participates in the AMIA DEI Taskforce. She has been volunteering at the St. Louis Modern Chinese School as the principal of Chinese education and developing a school library and planning an online bookstore with her colleagues for students, parents and the local community.

Tao earned her Master of Art in Library Sciences in 2003; and PhD in Information Science and Learning Technologies, and Master of Science in Health Informatics from the University of Missouri in 2008. Before she came to the U.S., Tao worked in the otolaryngology department of a tertiary hospital in Beijing as a journal editor for three national otolaryngology journals.

The UIC Library of the Health Sciences, with regional libraries located on the west Chicago, Peoria and Rockford campuses, supports education, research and clinical practice in UIC’s health-related professional schools and the University of Illinois Hospital and Clinics and other affiliated hospitals.