Roy Rada

Also known as Roy F. Rada

Roy Rada is a computer scientist and medical doctor whose research asks how software can replace people, from medical information retrieval and hypermedia to generative AI in health care. He earned a B.A. in psychology at Yale in 1973 and an M.D. at Baylor College of Medicine in 1977, then studied computer science at the University of Illinois and edited Index Medicus at the National Library of Medicine from 1984 to 1988. He founded the Many Using and Creating Hypermedia research group at the University of Liverpool, won the Eliot Prize in 1990, and was elected an ACM Fellow in 1995. After a Boeing professorship at Washington State University, he was the first director of the online master's in information systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) from 1999 and retired as professor emeritus in 2015. He created the Rada Research Trust in 2023 to support advances in artificial intelligence, and he is a professor emeritus of information systems at UMBC.

Now at: University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Born: 1951
Works: 364
Citations: 5,628
h-index: 29
Badges: Founder
Bridge
Wayfarer
Loyal
Pioneer

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

1973–1980

Yale, Baylor and Illinois degrees

He earns a B.A. in psychology from Yale in 1973 and an M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine in 1977. A National Institutes of Health fellowship in healthcare informatics then takes him to the University of Illinois, where he earns a Ph.D. in computer science.
1981–1988

Wayne State, then Index Medicus

He is an assistant professor of computer science at Wayne State University in Detroit from 1981 to 1984. In 1984 he moves to the National Library of Medicine, where he is Editor of Index Medicus and head of the Medical Subject Headings Section until 1988. His team there develops spreading activation across semantic nets as a tool for retrieving medical knowledge.
1988–1995

Hypermedia research at Liverpool

He joins the University of Liverpool as professor of computer science in 1988 and stays until 1995. There he founds the Many Using and Creating Hypermedia research group, which earns millions in European funding. In 1993 he forms Hypermedia Solutions Limited, an electronic publishing company.
1990

The Eliot Prize

He wins the 1990 Eliot Prize, given for a work judged most effective in furthering medical librarianship. The honour follows the work of his National Institutes of Health team on semi-automatically combining medical knowledge bases to improve information retrieval.
1995

ACM Fellow and Boeing professor

He is elected a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery in 1995. In August 1995 he also becomes Boeing Distinguished Professor of Software Engineering at Washington State University in Pullman, a post he holds until 1998.
1999–2015

Online master's at UMBC

He becomes the first director of the online Master's in Information Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), which launches on Blackboard in 1999. He is a professor of information systems there and spends 2004 and 2005 as a visiting oncology scientist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He retires in 2015 as professor emeritus.
2023–2025

The Rada Research Trust

In 2023 he creates six trusts, among them the Rada Research Trust, which supports the legacy of the Trustor and advances in artificial intelligence. In 2024 he endows Rada scholarships in AI and healthcare at four universities, for graduate students working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare. In 2025 he endows more funds, among them a Carnegie Mellon undergraduate research fund for projects on AI, evolutionary computation and robotics.
As of October 2026

Emeritus professor writing on AI

He is professor emeritus of information systems at UMBC, tracks the progress of artificial intelligence, and names how software can replace people as his main research interest. In June 2025 he and Peter Smith publish the debate "AI, healthcare ethics, and disability" in AI and Ethics, arguing for the benefits of automated clinical decision-making; his survey "Generative AI and Health Care: Brief Survey" follows in Computer in July 2025.

Career

Since 1999University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyFirst director of the online Master's in Information Systems and professor of information systems, Professor emeritus of information systems
From 2023Rada Research TrustFounder
2006–2011University of Maryland
2004–2005Johns Hopkins UniversityVisiting oncology scientist
2001–2003University of Maryland, Baltimore
1998–1999Pace University
1995–1998Washington State UniversityBoeing Distinguished Professor of Software Engineering
From 1993Hypermedia Solutions LimitedFounder
1988–1995University of LiverpoolProfessor of computer science, Founder
1984–1988National Library of MedicineEditor of Index Medicus and head of the Medical Subject Headings Section
1981–1984Wayne State UniversityAssistant professor of computer science