Candace Garcia is a senior informatics analyst with the Practice Support Unit in the Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII). Candace comes to PHII with nearly 15 years of experience in healthcare management, including over a decade of experience in public health. She is particularly passionate about disease prevention and the importance of immunizations for population health.

Candace previously managed the City of Houston’s Health Department (HHD) Immunization Registry as well as the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC). While working to expand both programs, Candace was central to partnership-building efforts between the HHD, private Houston-based health centers and local clinics, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Additionally, while at the HHD, Candace supported the Department’s implementation and use of the Epic electronic health record, later serving as the HHD’s administration manager of Epic. In this role, Candace was responsible for Epic-related builds, training and ensuring the system’s effective use across brick-and-mortar and mobile clinics.

In 2016, Candace completed her MBA (with an area of concentration in Management Information Systems) and was ready to further develop her knowledge of Epic design and management. She transitioned to the private sector to serve as senior systems analyst at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, an expansive healthcare organization specializing in coordinated care across the greater Houston area. While with Kelsey-Seybold, Candace provided a wide range of systems management support, learned multiple clinical specialties, implemented related builds and was responsible for interface design and systems integration. She holds several Epic certifications, including those in EpicCare Ambulatory and Epic Bridges Interface. Additionally, she holds badges in Epic Hyperspace Configuration and in Epic My Chart.