By Jennifer Berger

ail Knopf has learned that improving health care and working in IT are not mutually exclusive. As vice president of electronic commerce at the TriZetto Group, in Louisville, Ky., Knopf now does both: working with computers and the Internet, and helping the health care system become more efficient. She became a central player in the convergence of these two fields by working in areas that interested her, and is now in charge of TriZetto's HealthWeb portal.

To reach this height in her career, Knopf seized opportunities and tackled problems head-on. While working at Humana, then a hospital company, in 1983, Knopf was the IT representative for a task force that was exploring a move to the managed-care arena. When Humana did make the move, Knopf was asked to head IT for the company's Group Health division. By taking on the additional task force role, Knopf put herself on an intersecting path of managed care and IT. Then, about three years ago, she began to develop a passion for discovering ways health care could be improved by using the Internet.

"I pushed [toward that goal] whenever I saw the opportunity," Knopf says.

Knopf helped start Management and Technology Solutions (MTS), a physician services company. As executive vice president and CIO of MTS, Knopf oversaw the development of MTSNet, a portal product designed to help physician offices communicate with one another, and with hospitals and health plan offices.

When TriZetto acquired MTS in 1999, MTSNet was integrated into its HealthWeb product, allowing physicians to connect with health plan offices via the Web to securely verify claim status and managed-care plan membership. This also cut back administration costs and freed up funds for better patient care.

Create opportunities

Knopf believes that in an IT career, setting a hard-and-fast goal or deadline for that goal is unrealistic because technology changes so quickly. Instead, she simply gravitates toward what interests her and focuses on results.

Taking on projects of her own volition was central to Knopf's professional success. One of the best ways to market yourself in IT, she says, is to show enthusiasm for new opportunities within your current company.

"If you are willing to take on challenges, they'll be given to you," Knopf says. "Tell the people in charge of a project, `I can do this. I want it.' You have to let them know."

Taking on additional challenges will show people you can handle more in the future, Knopf adds. However, her ability to build relationships with people and teams to design solutions -- and obtain results -- has also helped along the way, Knopf says.

Broaden your horizons

As one of the few women programmers in 1968, Knopf often found herself the only woman in meetings. But things have changed a lot since then, she says.

In her experience, the computer industry seems to pay women and men more equally for doing equal work.

"[IT] is a great field for women because you're measured by what you can produce," Knopf says. "And in IT, there are measurable results."

For those who want to reach a similar career goal in IT, Knopf encourages getting involved with the Internet and working with networks, which she sees as key to both the present and the future.

"[People] can't help but succeed if they are interested in and learn about both these things," Knopf says.

Profile facts

Gail H. Knopf - Vice president of e-commerce at the TriZetto Group, in Louisville, Ky.

Education - Vanderbilt University, B.A. in Mathematics, 1968

First job - Summer job developing computer programs from specs written in Fortran at Chemitron Chemicals

Magazines read regularly - Healthcare Informatics, Fortune, Forbes, InfoWorld, The Industry Standard, Information Week, The Wall Street Journal, Medical Economics

Favorite Web sites - Search engines such as Yahoo and Excite: "They're really the most valuable. Every time I use the Web, I'm looking for something different."

Last book read - A Certain Justice, by P.D. James (a mystery novel)