Master’s Degree in Biomedical Informatics: General Curriculum
The Master’s degree is viewed as a pleuripotential experience that offers a flexible program accommodating students entering with a variety of backgrounds and career goals, including an academic career for a doctorally-prepared health professional. The emphasis in courses is on foundation areas as opposed to specific domains of application. In addition to the experiences detailed below, all students will complete training in the appropriate conduct of research.
The Master’s degree in Biomedical Informatics will require at least 36 credits. We expect that the average full time student will complete the degree in two years. (Note: Up to 6 credits – “B” grade or better – from another institution or department within the University of Pittsburgh can be considered for transfer towards the Biomedical Informatics Master’s degree. Acceptance of transfer credit must be discussed between student and advisor, and approved by Chair of Curriculum Committee.)
Master’s students who are clinically-trained health professionals may use the masters degree as an entry into an academic position or a position in the private sector. (Typically, faculties of medicine, dentistry, and other health fields do not require a PhD for appointment of persons with complete clinical training.) Other masters students will typically use the degree as preparation for careers in information services organizations within hospitals and health systems. Some will use the Masters as preparation for doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh or elsewhere.
The curriculum consists of:
- Required biomedical informatics core
- Computational competency: tools and concepts
- Biomedical informatics distribution
- Electives
- Research methods
All elements of the program exist as educational experiences offered through the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) or other departments/schools in the university. All required courses must be taken for a letter grade, with the exception of the Journal Clubs/Colloquiums and some Independent and/or Dissertation Studies (to be determined by faculty advisors). A minimum “B” grade is required in all graduate courses.
The program follows the University of Pittsburgh Graduate Studies Guidelines; see http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/regtoc.html
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)
Computational Competency: Tools and Concepts (minimum 6 credits)
Tools (minimum 3 credits)
BIOINF 2012 Problem-Oriented Programming in Medical Informatics (3 credits) is strongly recommended. An alternative* programming language elective may be substituted, pending approval of advisor. [CG1] 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 2500 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 12 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: Mathematical 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)
Electives (minimum 6 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. Students who are allowed to waive one or more required credits will use additional electives to earn the required 36 total credits for the Master’s degree.
Research Methods (8 credits)
Introductory Statistics/Biostatistics (3 credits). The statistics core requirement can be met in a 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.
BIOINF 2033: Introduction to Research in Biomedical Informatics (2 credits).
New course being developed as an early structured research experience to be mentored by the student’s research advisor with oversight by Course Coordinator; required of all master’s and doctoral students in their first year.
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. For more information, see http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/regmasters.html and http://www.pitt.edu/~graduate/dissertation.html 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/.
Masters Comprehensive Examination
Successful completion of the oral examination on the research project satisfies the Master’s comprehensive examination requirement of the University (see Regulations Governing Graduate Study at the University of Pittsburgh). 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. As the oral examination portion of the research project is, in fact, the Master’s Comprehensive Examination, see Master’s Research Project Requirements for directions on the process, including how to form a Masters Comprehensive Examination Committee, timelines, etc. The MS Comprehensive Examination (presentation of student research project) is open to the public.
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.
All students are required to follow the Biomedical Informatics Training Program’s Academic Integrity Policy [PDF], which is in accordance with the rules and regulations of the University of Pittsburgh.