Health Informatics

Ph.D.

CORE A — Foundations of Informatics (12 credit hours)

Every student will take four courses (12 credit hours) from the following list:

INFO I501 Introduction to Informatics (3 cr.)
INFO I530 Foundations of Health Informatics (3 cr.)
INFO I575 Informatics Research Design (3 cr.)
INFO I600 Professionalism and Pedagogy in Informatics (3 cr.)

CORE B — Health Domain (12 credit hours)

INFO I511 Laboratory Information Management Systems for Health and Life Sciences (3 cr.)
INFO I535 Clinical Information Systems (3 cr.)
INFO I581 Health Informatics Standards & Terminology (3 cr.)
INFO I617 Informatics in Life Sciences and Chemistry (3 cr.)
GRAD 652 Intro to Biostatistics II (3 cr.)

Required Seminar Courses (3 credit hours)

INFO I667 Seminar in Health Informatics I (3 cr.)
INFO I668 Seminar in Health Informatics II (3 cr.)

Required Independent Study/Rotation (6 credit hours)

INFO I790 Independent Study/Rotation (3 cr.)

Electives (9 credit hours)

INFO I512 Scientific Data Management (3 cr.)
INFO I601 Introduction to Complex Systems (3 cr.)
INFO I605 Social Foundations of Informatics (3 cr.)
INFO I611 Mathematical Foundations (3 cr.)
INFO I641 Business of Health Informatics (3 cr.)
INFO I642 Clinical Decision Support (3 cr.)
INFO I643 Natural Language Processing (3 cr.)
INFO I543 Usability and Evaluative Methods in Interactive Design (3 cr.)
INFO I563 Psychology of HCI (3 cr.)
GRAD 660 Clinical Research Methods (3 cr.)
GRAD 661 Clinical Trials (3 cr.)

Total: 48 course credit hours.

Minor Required (15 credit hours)

All students will be required to have an appropriate minor outside or partially inside the school. Minors will be selected with the advisor’s recommendation. The selected minor should be appropriate to the student’s choice of sub discipline within informatics. Some appropriate minors would include biology, chemistry, cognitive psychology, computer science and information science. In all cases the number of hours to be included in the minor will be consistent with the requirements of the unit granting the minor.

Qualifying Examination - Written (Required)

All students will take a written qualifying examination that covers the core courses (CORE A and B). The examination will be set by a group of faculty who are familiar with the content of the core courses. Examinations will be offered in August. Examinations must be completed by the end of the student’s second year in the program. Students who do not successfully complete the examination can retake the examination a second time.

Qualifying Examination – Oral (Required)

The oral examination will take place after the student successfully passes the written exam. Students must pass both the written and oral exam before passing on to candidacy. Only two attempts to pass the oral examination will be allowed.
The oral exam will be based on the student’s response to the written exam and any material from the core courses.

Dissertation Proposal (Required)

This is an oral exam that covers in-depth knowledge of the student’s primary research area and dissertation proposal. The research proposal for dissertation must be approved by the student’s research committee. That committee may have the same membership as the program committee or the students may choose different members. The advisor for the dissertation will be a faculty member in the School of Informatics and a member of the Graduate Faculty. At least one the three members of the committee will be based outside of the school. The student will defend the thesis proposal at a public colloquium in the school. The examination should be completed within one-year after passing the Qualifying Examinations. Only two attempts to pass this examination will be allowed.

Dissertation (21 to 30 credit hours)

A written elaboration of significant original research, which must be successfully presented to the research committee in a public defense as described in the Graduate School Bulletin.

INFO 890 Thesis/project Health Informatics(1- 12 Credit Hours repeatable)