Dr. Rathe joined the University of Florida in 1990 to develop the informatics program for the College of Medicine. Prior to his arrival, he completed a two year NLM Informatics Fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health. He was board certified in Family Medicine and held a joint appointment with the Department of Community Health and Family Medicine.
From 1990 to 1996 he directed the development of the Online Medical Record (OLMR) for the Shands Teaching Hospital. His teaching responsibilities included: Basic Clinical Skills, course director 1995 – 2000; clinical instructor during the 3rd year Family Medicine clerkship; and Introduction to Medical Informatics, senior elective, 1996 – 2001.
In 1998 he was appointed the Associate Dean for Information Technology. In 2010 he helped implement the Epic EMR for the UF Health outpatient clinics. Since that time he worked to improve the quality of medical documentation across the enterprise.
In 2014 Dr. Rathe stepped down as Associate Dean to focus on patient care, bedside teaching, and the electronic medical record. Since then he has launched the Rational History of Present Illness Project including the quickHPI web app and related Epic tools. Dr. Rathe most recently saw patients at the Old Town Clinic in rural North Florida.
In July 2017 he moved to semi-retired status, working part-time at the UF After Hours Clinic and volunteering with the UF Mobile Outreach Clinic. He is now fully retired and remains active online as @richardrathe.