Health Services Research Concentration (Master’s Degree) Curriculum
Health services research and Biomedical Informatics are two fields that have developed hand-in-hand, with the research advances in each area fueling advances in the other, bringing the two closer together. Medical informatics has since its inception been concerned with the representation of medical knowledge – the capture for use in decision support, and other tools, the best that is known about effective and efficient delivery of health care. In parallel, health services researchers have been studying which diagnostic procedures, therapeutic interventions, and other management strategies are associated with optimal health care outcomes. This research has resulted in guidelines, algorithms and other representations of medical knowledge, which are prerequisite to systems developed by informaticians.
Health services research, like informatics, is inherently interdisciplinary. At the University of Pittsburgh, health services research is conducted in several departments of the School of Public Health, the School of Medicine and other academic units. Through a formal connection between the Pittsburgh Biomedical Informatics Program and the Center for Research on Health Care (CRHC), informatics trainees will be able to participate in a broad range of research projects. The multidisciplinary CRHC, developed through cooperation between the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Graduate School of Public Health. The program offers a two-year Master’s of Science degree through its Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP). See http://www.icre.pitt.edu for more information on the CRTP. While the CRTP program provides some basic exposure to computing concepts, it is not able to cover many fundamental topics in Biomedical Informatics. Yet, as suggested above, it is important to have researchers who are well trained in the fundamentals of both health services research and Biomedical Informatics. Accordingly, within the Biomedical Informatics degree program, students can concentrate study in Health Services Research (HSR).
Those trainees in the Biomedical Informatics Master’s Degree program who desire a concentration of study in Health Services Research follow a curriculum that draws its HSR coverage from the existing coursework and research resources of the CRHC’s Clinical Research Training Program Master’s degree. The curriculum of the HSR concentration of study within the Biomedical Informatics Master’s degree program is listed below and is comprised of 43 credits of study, including a 9-credit summer introduction to the fundamental methodologies used in HSR research. The curriculum provides trainees with the fundamental concepts and skills in HSR and biomedical informatics, as well as ample classroom discussion of existing and evolving ideas at the intersection of the two fields of study. The combined faculty of both the CRTP program and the Biomedical Informatics program will be available to students to provide research advice. Typically, a student will have a research committee that contains members from each program.
A key component of the HSR concentration is a 9-credit intensive summer semester introduction to the fundamental methodologies used in HSR research, which includes many of the courses for the Required Clinical Research Core. Biomedical Informatics students in the HSR concentration will be required to take these courses in the summer between the first and second year in the program.
Biomedical Informatics Core (4-7 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 (0 credit)
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.
BIOINF 2013: Clinical Environments in Biomedical Informatics (3 credits: OPTIONAL for U.S. trained clinicians)
Students in the HSR curriculum would be expected to have this training already as part of acceptance into this track.
Computational Competency: Tools and Concepts (minimum 6 credits)
TOOLS (minimum 3 credits)
BIOINF 2012: Problem-Oriented Programming in Medical Informatics (3 credits).
This course is strongly recommended. An alternative* programming language elective may be substituted, pending approval of advisor. Only those students for whom prior experience or other approved forms of demonstrated programming competency proficiency (such as online courses or portfolio development) exist, may seek a waiver of the programming elective.
CONCEPTS (minimum 3 credits)
Database Management (3 credits): INFSCI 2710, HSR 2424, CS 2550 or alternative* approved by advisor.
Data Structures (3 credits): INFSCI 2610 or alternative* approved by advisor.
Algorithms (3 credits): CS 2150 or alternative* approved by advisor.
*Note: alternative courses must be graduate-level courses (having course numbers in the 2000 or 3000 series). Prerequisites may apply.
Biomedical Informatics Distribution (minimum 9 credits)
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 2101: Probabilistic Methods for Computer-based Decision Support (3 credits)
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: Math Modeling Techniques for Complex Biological Systems (3 credits)
BIOINF 2131: Practicum in Advanced Biomedical Information Technology (1-6 credits)
BIOINF 2134: Research Writing Practicum (2 credits)
BIOINF 2992: Information in Radiological Imaging (Directed Study) (3 credits)
HSR Summer Core (9 credits)
This is required of students in the HSR track and typically would be taken between the first and second years of their training. CLRES 2020 will satisfy the statistical requirements of the Master’s degree.
CLRES 2005: Computer-based Data Analysis (1 credit)
CLRES 2010: Clinical Research Methods (3 credits)
CLRES 2020: Biostatistics: Statistical Approaches in Clinical Research (4 credits)
CLRES 2040: Measurement in Clinical Research (1 credit)
HSR Electives (minimum 3 credits)
BIOST 2062: Special Topics: Clinical Trials: Methods and Practice
CLRES 2021: Regression and ANOVA(1 Credit)
CLRES 2022: Logistic Regression(1 Credit)
CLRES 2023: Cox Regression(1 Credit)
CLRES 2024: Applied Nonparametric Statistics(1 Credit)
CLRES 2100: Outcomes and Effectiveness Research Methods(2 Credits)
CLRES 2110: Quality Improvement for Health Care(1 Credit)
CLRES 2120/HPM 2220: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis(1 Credit)
CLRES 2121/HPM 2217: Clinical Decision Analysis(1 Credit)
CLRES 2122: Advanced Methods for Decision and Cost-effectiveness Analysis(1 Credit)
Other graduate-level electives within the Clinical Research Training program can be elected with the permission of the student’s advisor.
Additional Electives (minimum 3 credits)
Student choice which must be approved by the student’s advisor of 2xxx or higher level courses that address student’s educational and career goals. The elective can be met through additional courses chosen from the biomedical informatics distribution list, from the HSR electives, or other courses offered at the university. Students who are allowed to waive one or more required credits will use additional electives to earn the required 43 total credits for the Master’s degree. For students, in the HSR track, students would be encouraged to take courses from the CRES courses. Some of these electives are noted above, and others from HSR can be elected with approval of the student’s advisor.
Research Methods (minimum 9 credits)
Introductory Statistics/Biostatistics: Students in HSR will satisfy this requirement in the HSR summer core described above.
Students in HSR will take 6 units of structured research experience. The goal of this seminar is to develop a comprehensive research plan suitable for a K award or other NIH style grant application. The research project done as part of the masters research project, can be used for the “preliminary work” section of the grant.
CLRES 2070: Research Design and Development Seminar (5 Credits)
CLRES 2050: Ethics and Regulation of Clinical Research (1 Credit)
BIOINF 2480: Master’s Research Project (3 or more credits)
A key element of the program is a research project with two key deliverables: (1) the writing and submission (to the Training Program, via their master’s project committee) of a paper of publishable quality based upon the research and (2) the completion of an oral examination on its contents. The research project is required of master’s and PhD students. The research paper is expected to be 20-30 pages double spaced type, inclusive of abstract, figures, tables and references, and to include Objective, Background, Design, Measurements, Results, and Conclusion (or the equivalent, dependent on the specific research focus). There is the strong expectation that students will submit their projects for publication to appropriate journals and conferences, such as JAMIA, AMIA, or other respected academic publications in their field of study. All students should refer to Master’s Research Project Requirements for detailed description of this requirement, including committee, timeline, and deliverables.
Students have the option of developing their project into a formal Master’s thesis. It is expected that those students who choose the thesis option will additionally satisfy all University requirements, including format and submission of copies, for the Master’s thesis. See http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/regmasters.html and http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/dissertation.html for more information. University policy requires submission of thesis to be in electronic form for the Master’s degree, see http://www.pitt.edu/AFShome/g/r/graduate/public/html/etd/
Master’s Comprehensive Examination
Successful completion of the oral examination on the research project satisfies the Master’s comprehensive examination requirement of the University’s Committee on Graduate Studies (follow procedures outlined in the Master’s Research Project Requirements). Final certification of completion of the Master’s degree requires submission of an electronic copy of the research project (or, if student opts to do so, the formal master’s thesis) to the Program Coordinator.
Additional Requirements
Instruction in the Responsible Conduct of Research: See specific information on Research Practice Fundamentals. This requirement must be satisfied within the first month of beginning any academic program at DBMI.
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.