Dr. Jason Mitchell has been named director of the Center for Health Information Technology at the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Leawood, Kan.-based professional association has announced.

Mitchell has served as assistant director of the center since 2007.

He replaces Dr. Steven Waldren, who was named to Modern Healthcare's 2012 list of the 50 Most Influential Physician Executives. Waldren will move to the part-time position as senior strategist with the center.

“We are delighted to appoint Dr. Mitchell as director of our Center for Health IT,” said AAFP CEO and Executive Vice President Dr. Douglas Henley, in a news release. “His expertise in the area of medical informatics and his experience as a practicing family physician give him the extensive clinical and technical knowledge to lead the Center in its mission and to extend the services it provides AAFP members and other office-based clinicians.”

Mitchell is a board-certified family physician and, in addition to the AAFP, is a member of the American Medical Informatics Association, where he chairs its primary-care informatics working group, and of the Health Information Management Systems Society. Mitchell is the U.S. representative to a World Health Organization initiative on informatics for primary-care physicians, and has served on the clinical advisory group for personal health record system developer Dossia.

He is currently completing a master’s degree in health informatics at the University of Missouri-Columbia, his medical school and undergraduate alma mater.