Biomedical informatics training certificate program
The Biomedical Informatics Certificate program is a 15 credit (minimum) experience. The Certificate program will serve students with a wide variety of goals and backgrounds, including those in the Health Science Libraries’ Library/Informatics Traineeship. For this reason, each certificate trainee's program of study will be developed in collaboration with, and with the approval of, his/her biomedical informatics advisor. The curriculum of all students in this program will have the following general structure:
Required Biomedical Informatics Core (4 credits)
BIOINF 2011: Introduction to Biomedical Informatics (3 credits)
BIOINF 2032: Journal Club (1 credit) Revised format will focus on seminal and new literature in the field w/ weekly preparation and critical analysis facilitated by an instructor; required of all students in first year.
Biomedical Informatics Colloquium: Revised format will showcase presentations from DBMI researchers and invited speakers from across campus and beyond. Will meet weekly for one hour. Required attendance (75% minimum) for all students.
Biomedical Informatics Distribution: Student Choice of Three of the Following (9 credits total)
BIOINF 2014: Biomedical Informatics Project Course (3 credits)
BIOINF 2051: Introduction to Bioinformatics (3 credits)
BIOINF 2052: Introduction to Computational Structural Biology (2 credits)
BIOINF 2053: Sequence Analysis Laboratory (3 credits; includes Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) Workshop in August)
BIOINF 2054: Statistical Foundations for Bioinformatics Data Mining (3 credits)
BIOINF 2055: Practical Analysis of High-Throughput Genomic and Proteomic Data Sources (3 Credits)
BIOINF 2056: Bioinformatics of Gene Regulation (3 credits)
BIOINF 2057: Elements of Statistical Learning (3 credits)
BIOINF 2134: Research Writing Practicum (2 credits)
BIOINF 2101: Probabilistic Methods for Computer-based Decision Support (3 credits)
BIOINF 2012: Problem-Oriented Programming in Medical Informatics (3 credits) (Cannot be used to satisfy biomedical informatics distribution and programming language elective.)
BIOINF 2104: Information Technology and Health Care Organizations (3 credits)
BIOINF 2109: The Internet and Health Informatics (3 credits)
BIOINF 2110: Concepts of Software Project Engineering in Health Care (3 credits)
BIOINF 2111: Cognitive Studies for Health Informatics (3 credits)
BIOINF 2112: Methods and Principles of User-Centered Design (3 credits)
BIOINF 2113: Realtime Outbreak and Disease Surveillance (3 credits)
BIOINF 2114: Introduction to Medical Language Processing (3 credits)
BIOINF 2115: Mathematical Modeling Techniques for Complex Biological Systems (3 credits)
BIOINF 2131: Practicum in Advanced Biomedical Information Technology (1-6 credits)
BIOINF 2992: Information in Radiological Imaging (Directed Study) (3 credits)
**Introductory Statistics/Biostatistics (3 credits; see suggestions for specific statistics courses in General Masters Curriculum)
**Note: Students bringing to the program a sufficient background in statistics have the option of taking a third informatics distribution course in lieu of statistics. The research project can be a focused empirical study (such as needs assessment) or development of a small-scale information resource.
The statistics core requirement can be met in variety of ways. Many of our current students take one or more of the following: Intro to Statistical Methods I (BIOST 2041: 3 credits), Intro to Biostatistics II (BIOST 2042: 2 credits), Statistics in Information Sciences (INFSCI 2060: 3 credits), Statistical Methods I (PSYED 2014: 3 credits), Statistical Methods 2 (PSYED 2015: 3 credits), or Statistical Methods 3 (PSYED 2016: 3 credits). (A waive of this requirement can be requested based on previous coursework in statistics (send e-mail request to tls18@pitt.edu; however, a biostatistics course taken in medical school is typically too brief an experience to justify a waiver.) Those students who must take a course to fulfill this requirement will be strongly urged to do so early in their plan of study.
Research Project (2-3 credits; BIOINF 2480)
The research project should be summarized in a written report commensurate with its scope, as determined by student and his/her biomedical informatics advisor. Students are also required to give an oral presentation of their research project (most do so as a Biomedical Informatics Journal Club or Colloquium presentation, depending on the timing of completion of the requirements of the Certificate program). The student should provide the TP Coordinator and his/her advisor with at least 3 weeks advance notice of the date of the oral presentation. A final written copy of the project must be turned into the TP Coordinator after it has been approved by the student’s research advisor. (Note: Final certification of completion of the Masters requirements will not be given until the TP Coordinator receives an electronic copy of the research project.)
Programming Expectations
Certificate students who do not have prior programming experience are strongly encouraged to attend the one-week, “Programming Basics Workshop” offered by the Department of Biomedical Informatics (offered the second and/or third weeks of August, over a 4-5 day period), particularly those who plan to take BIOINF 2012. This Workshop is non-credit, intended to prepare those trainees entering the program with no programming experience for a successful experience in information science and programming courses that they will encounter in their curriculum. It will introduce programming concepts and thinking through lectures and exercises, but will not teach a particular programming language.
Additional Requirements
Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research: See specific information on Research Practice Fundamentals.
Attendance at and participation in the Department of Biomedical Informatics' invited lectures, symposia, conferences, etc: e.g., The Annual Lindberg Lecture, and particularly the Annual Training Program Retreat. Such lectures are considered to be important educational experiences, as well as introducing students to primary researchers and their work in the field of biomedical informatics.