Meet Eve Cunningham: A HIMSS Member Leading the Way in Digital Health and Virtual Care

Meet Eve Cunningham, MD MBA, the Chief of Virtual Care and Digital Health at Providence, and an active member of the HIMSS community. Cunningham has accomplished many things throughout her career, from developing her surgical skills as a gynecologist to incubating and launching a digital assistant product for providers that is now scaled across Providence.

However, her biggest challenge has been balancing her career with being a spouse and raising three children. She advises other working mothers to approach this issue on a personal level and to customize their balance according to their beliefs, available resources, and support. As a leader, she is sensitive to the stress and challenges her team members experience while trying to balance work and life.

Cunningham's future challenge is navigating the transformation of healthcare and the integration of AI/ML technology into clinical workflows. She believes clinicians must be involved in this process to ensure responsible use of these technologies.

When asked about the future of health information and technology for women, Cunningham believes the future is bright. More women are entering the field, and gender ratios are changing. She believes it's less about gender these days and more about demonstrating your value, competency, reliability, and expertise as a contributor to the team.

Cunningham finds motivation from the mentorship she has received throughout her life, including from her family and leaders who have sponsored her in her career growth and development. She also loves two quotes by Steve Jobs: "Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people" and "I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. They’re much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed."

Cunningham is proud to serve on the HIMSS Physician Forum Planning Committee, HIMSS Physician Committee, and HIMSS Burden Reduction Committee. She has recently participated in the CMIO Panel at HIMSS22 and was excited about the focus of the Physician Forum, which addressed burnout and administrative burden through innovations that work.