Dave Carlson

Dave Carlson is a serial entrepreneur, creative innovator, educator, and engineer who has dedicated over 45 years to leveraging technology for positive human impact. As Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Mountain Lotus WellBeing, he helps individuals connect with their "Why" and make informed lifestyle choices to achieve optimal health and well-being.

Dave’s career centers on person-centered health, patient empowerment, and connected care. He has led project teams in designing, delivering, and evaluating advanced applications, services, and decision support tools, specializing in the adoption of HL7 FHIR interoperability standards to drive transformative healthcare solutions. His work with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has significantly advanced care planning for individuals with multiple chronic conditions, fostering greater engagement among patients, caregivers, and clinicians. For over two decades, he has also served as a trusted consultant to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), enhancing the design and implementation of healthcare interoperability frameworks that improve care delivery for veterans nationwide.

In 2024–2025, Dave initiated and led the creation of the new HL7 FHIR Implementation Guide for Person-Centered Outcomes (PCO), a groundbreaking effort to integrate patient-centered data into digital platforms, mobile applications, and quality measurement tools. The PCO FHIR IG can be accessed here.

A passionate educator, Dave served as an Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems (MIS) at the University of Colorado at Boulder, mentoring future leaders in technology and innovation. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University (1979), where he was inducted into Tau Beta Pi, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management (1985), and a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management (1991).

Through innovation, education, and service, Dave Carlson continues to create practical, technology-enabled solutions that honor the uniqueness of each individual's health journey and advance the future of connected, person-centered care.

Publications

Eclipse Distilled (book)
Eclipse is an incredibly powerful platform for software development, but this power and flexibility is often overwhelming for novice programmers and sometimes daunting for experienced professionals. The goal of this book is to distill significant features of the Eclipse platform and its Java development capabilities in a way that is approachable for newbies and beneficial for senior developers who are new to Eclipse. But this book is not just a catalog of features and screenshots. It is structured around a theme of agile development and describes Eclipse as an enabler for agile methodology within project teams.A consistent project example is used throughout the book to illustrate the progress of a new project from its inception through several iterations of development, enhancement, and refactoring. A practical guide for developers new to the Eclipse platform, focusing on maximizing productivity by simplifying the learning curve with concise, example-driven explanations.
Author: Dave Carlson	Publisher: Addison-Wesley	April 1, 2005

Eclipse Distilled (book)

Eclipse is an incredibly powerful platform for software development, but this power and flexibility is often overwhelming for novice programmers and sometimes daunting for experienced professionals. The goal of this book is to distill significant features of the Eclipse platform and its Java development capabilities in a way that is approachable for newbies and beneficial for senior developers who are new to Eclipse. But this book is not just a catalog of features and screenshots. It is structured around a theme of agile development and describes Eclipse as an enabler for agile methodology within project teams.A consistent project example is used throughout the book to illustrate the progress of a new project from its inception through several iterations of development, enhancement, and refactoring.

A practical guide for developers new to the Eclipse platform, focusing on maximizing productivity by simplifying the learning curve with concise, example-driven explanations.

Author: Dave Carlson

Publisher: Addison-Wesley

April 1, 2005

Modeling XML Applications with UML (book)
This book presents a comprehensive, systematic approach to modeling XML applications using the Unified Modeling Language (UML), bridging the gap between data design and dynamic web application development. It demonstrates how developers can effectively integrate XML and UML to create interactive, standards-compliant web and business-to-business (B2B) applications. Through a large-scale, real-world running example, the material is kept fluid, relatable, and easy to understand. Practical guidance is emphasized throughout, including detailed "Steps for Success" checklists and expert tips that help readers craft optimal, scalable designs. This book serves as a foundational resource for developers aiming to build robust, future-ready XML applications.
Author: Dave Carlson	Publisher: Addison-Wesley		February 1, 2001

Modeling CDA with Standards-Based Tools
This technical work details methods for modeling Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) documents using modern, standards-compliant tools, enhancing interoperability in healthcare IT systems.
Authors: Dave Carlson, Richard Rogers, Sarah Knoop, John T.E. Timm	Publisher: HL7 International		April 1, 2009