Questions to Answer:
Who are the closest competitors to us? What can we learn from them?

local
 ECU – online certificate
 NCSU – no such program?
 Duke – Nursing Informatics training?

nationally similar programs (see below)

structural organization (host dept)
standalone informatics program
 University of Illinois at Chicago (one of the programs)????
 University of Massachusetts – Lowell
 University of Minnesota
 Columbia
 University of Texas – Houston
LIS or Informatics School based
 Indiana University
 Northern Kentucky University
 Northeastern University
 University of North Texas
public health based
 Emory University
 University of Illinois – Chicago (second program)
 University of Virginia
 New York Medical College
certificate based programs without homes
 Excelsior College
 ECU
 University of Maryland
 Drexel University
other
 College/School of Nursing (U of Arizona, U of Colorado HSC, Canyon College, U of Iowa, U
of Kansas, U of Pennsylvania, Fairmont State U)
 School of Medicine (U of California – Davis, John Hopkins, U of Missouri, Oregon HSU, U of
Washington)
 Allied Health (U of Alabama – Birmingham, Saint Louis, Ohio State, U of Tennessee, U of
Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Medical College of Georgia)
 Undergraduate schools (Bellevue University, Oregon Institute of Technology)



can we tell who is successful? Number of students enrolled? Applications received?
how are they marketing their program?
Important fields to compare prereqs number of credit hours focus areas/curriculum
Competitors (Informatics)
Columbia
Standalone program as one of Biomedical Informatics training options. Current enrolment – 50
students in all programs (MS, PhD). Offer nice comparison of their programs for prospective students
(http://www.dbmi.columbia.edu/educ/degreeprograms/index.html )
No special prerequisites, beyond usual grad school admission requirements but students can place out
of required courses if they have suitable background (see curriculum below), flexible selection of 12
courses (assumed to be 36 credits)
Curriculum:
Computational courses (one required, can place
out)
Database Systems, Artificial Intelligence,
Machine Learning, Programming and Problem
Solving, Advanced Software Engineering
Public Health Core (4 courses, can place out of
all but one)
Epidemiology, Issues and approaches in health
policy and management, Environmental Health
Sciences, Public health informatics
Mathematical (one course, can place out)
Introduction to Biostatistics
Specialized training in public health informatics
topics- Projects (1-6 courses)
Informatics Core (3 courses, cannot place out)
Introduction to Computer Applications in Health
Care and Biomedicine, Theory and Methods in
Biomedical Informatics
One research Core Course
Evaluation Methods in Medical Informatics or
Research design and data collection
One Research Practicum
Northeastern University
Based in College of Computer and Information Sciences, but relies on partnership with Bouve College of
Health Sciences. Non-Thesis MS Program mostly geared towards IT professionals including those
actively employed - evening classes to enable part-time study options.
Standard grad school admission requirements plus prerequisites:
Intro to Computing
Fundamentals of Statistics
Health & Medicine for Non-clinicians.
40 credit program (24 core credits and 12 elective credits + capstone project and one-credit internship),
GPS 3.0 or better required for matriculation.
Curriculum:
Health Informatics and Management Core
Courses (12 credits)
Introduction to Health Informatics Systems
Organizational Behavior, Workflow Design &
Change Management Health Information
Systems Lab
Project Management
IT Core Courses (6 credits)
Data Management in Healthcare
Database Design, Access, Modeling & Security
Health Core Courses (6 credits)
Business of Healthcare Informatics
Creation and Application of Medical Knowledge
Electives (12 credits)
Design for Usability
Emerging Technologies in Healthcare
Introduction to Genomics and Bioinformatics
Key Standards in Health Informatics
Legal & Social Issues in Health Informatics
Management Issues in Healthcare IT
Public Health Surveillance and Informatics
University of Minnesota
Standalone program (appears to be young, original 32 credit MS split into two distinct programs). Now
offering MHI (practice oriented) and two MS (course-oriented and research oriented) and PhD degrees
in Health Informatics.
MHI is a limited enrollment 32 credit program (currently 10 f-time and 15 p-time) and is designed to be
attractive for working professionals - designed to be completed in one calendar year for full time
students and in up to three years for part-time students, offers evening and Saturday classes.
Admission requirements: A Baccalaureate or post-baccalaureate degree in one of the health professions
with GPA of 3.0 or better, one course in a modern computer programming language (e.g. Java, Visual
Basic, C, C++) or evidence of equivalent skills. GRE or record of professional achievement for those who
are more than 10 years from last degree completed
MS Program
Standard Grad admission requirements plus
Prerequisites:
 equivalent of six semester credits or nine quarter credits in medical, life or biological
sciences. This a a broadly defined requirement and most courses with a health or biology
emphasis will be accepted including biostatistics, health services research, public health, etc
as well as the more traditional biology or life science courses.
 one year of calculus;
 a course or documented work experience in a programming or application language such as
C, C++, JAVA, Visual Basic, PASCAL, etc.
The 42 credit program has two options (both require core courses plus 12 additional credits)
For course-oriented (non-thesis) program – 6 technical electives and 6 health sciences electives,
research report.
For research-oriented (thesis) program – 6 “major” (concentration) electives and 6 in related field
outside major.
NOTE: elective courses are not provided by the program.
PhD Program is an expanded version of research-oriented MS
Student are expected to earn a minimum of 34 credits in their major field, 12 credits in a minor field or
supporting program, and 24 thesis credits, for a minimum total of 70 credits.
Core courses for MS/PhD programs
Health Informatics I. (4 credits/semester)
Health Informatics II. (4 credits/semester)
Health Informatics Seminar (1 credit/semester)
Operation Research and Quality Control in Health Care. (2 credits/semester)
Information Technology in Health Care. (2 credits/semester)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Health Informatics Program is a 1991 addition to the Department of Biomedical and Health Information
Sciences under College of Applied Health Sciences. Offers MS, Post-Baccalaureate and Post-Master
certificates. All are online degrees. MS Program has just added course-only option to traditional
research oriented option - reflects the industry need for health informatics field professionals. In
addition, graduates can take Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) credential exam.
MS and Post-Master admission requirements: GPA 3.0 or better, no GRE or such. Post-Bac. Certificate:
GPA 2.75 or better on final semester of undergraduate work or 3.0 for any graduate work. At least two
years of health care or IT work experience preferred for all programs. MS course only program is 45
credits and can be completed in 18 months. It is unclear what the certificate program requirements are.
Curriculum (Note differentiated course hours)
Prerequisites (may be waived in some
instances)
Independent Study (1 to 5 hours)
Core Courses
Health Care Data (3 hours)
Info. Sources in Biomedical & HIS (1 hour)
Communication Skills in Health Informatics (2
hours)
Ethics & Legal Issues in Health Informatics (3
hours)
Health Care Information Systems (4 hours)
Application of Health Care Info. Sys. (2 hours)
Management of Health Care Comm. Sys. (4
hours)
Health Info. Sys. Analysis & Design (4 hours)
Social & Org. Issues in Health Informatics (4
hours)
Health Care IT Vendor Management (3 hours)
Additional Core - Course Only Track
Topics in Health Informatics (4 hours)
Additional Core - Research Track
Strategic Inquiry in BHIS (3 hours)
Seminar in Biomedical and Health Information
Sciences (1 hour)
Research in Biomedical and Health Information
Sciences (0 to 5 hours)
Research in Biomedical and Health Information
Sciences (0 to 16 hours)
Electives - Other Courses Offered
Health Care Information Security (3 hours)
Consumer Health Informatics (3 hours)
Topics in Health Informatics (4 hours)
Health Care I.T. Administration (3 hours)
Leadership Development in Health Informatics
(3 hours)
Practicum in Biomedical and Health Information
Sciences (3 to 12 hours)
Independent Study (1 to 4 hours)
University of Massachusetts - Lowell
On-line Health Informatics program, administered through Continuing Education. Listed as “New”.
Options include 36 credit MS and 12 credit Certificate program. Liberal (no GPA, no GRE) admission
requirements.
Curriculum (MS):
Required Core Courses - 2 courses
Healthcare Finance
Healthcare Management
Concentration Courses - 8 courses
Organizational Behavior in Healthcare
Health Informatics
Healthcare Information Systems
Operations Analysis and Quality Improvement
Law and Ethics in Healthcare
Health Information Systems Planning
Healthcare Database Design
Healthcare Database Development
Program Electives - choose 1 course
Quantitative Methods in Healthcare
Management
Applied Health Economics
Planning and Marketing in Healthcare
Health Policy
Leadership in Healthcare
Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health
Comparative Health Systems
Final Project - choose 1 of the following
Capstone Project OR Master’s Thesis
Competitors (ILS based)
Indiana
Based in School of Informatics. Started as MS program in 2003, PhD added in 2005.
Typical admission requirements. 36 credit program (including thesis)
Curriculum:
Informatics Core (18 credits)
Introduction to Informatics
Laboratory Information Management Systems
Clinical Information Systems
Informatics Research Design
Health Informatics Standards & Terminology
Intro to Biostatistics I
One required Seminar Course (3 credits)
Seminar in Health Informatics Applications
Electives (9-12 credits)
Social Impact of Information Technologies
Informatics Project Management
Scientific Data Management
Data Analysis
Consumer Health Informatics
Natural Language Processing
Business of Health Informatics
Thesis/Capstone Project (3-6 credits)
Northern Kentucky University
Based in College of Informatics. Program started in 2007. Offers MS and Certificate options.
More on program development can be found in this article:
http://informatics.nku.edu/bis/mhi/docs/mhi_research.pdf
Standard admission requirements. 35 credit MS program and 12 credit Certificate program.
Curriculum for MS:
Foundational Courses (18 credits)
Introduction to Health Informatics
Technical Foundations of Health Informatics
Introduction to Management Information
Systems
Project Management
Introduction to Database Management
Research Method for Health Informatics
One required Seminar Course (3 credits)
Seminar in Health Informatics Applications
Electives (11 credits)
Students are required to take a minimum of 11
hours in elective courses. Students are required
to take one course from each of the areas, and
an additional course from one of the areas.
Health Informatics Policy Electives
COM 650 Health Communication
PHI 510 Ethics in Information Technology
CSC 670 Social Implications of Computing
MGT 620 Leadership and Ethics
MGT 670 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Business Process Management Electives
MBI 630 Systems Analysis and Design
MBI 675 Enterprise Workflow Design and Reengineering
ECO 625 Managerial Economics
ACC 605 Introduction to Financial Accounting
FIN 605 Fundamentals of Finance
MHI 694 Selected Topics in Information Systems
COM 604 Organizational Communication
MGT 612 Managing People and Organizations
Knowledge Management Electives
MBI 660 Data Warehousing and Data Mining
MBI 665 Computer Supported Collaborative Work
MHI 694 Selected Topics in Information Systems
MKT625 Marketing Management
Capstone sequence (2 semesters)
Includes real work-setting based project and
weekly seminar.
MHI 694 Selected Topics in Information Systems
Electronic Portfolio
Students will be required to maintain a portfolio during the course of the program. The portfolio will be
reviewed and critiqued during a capstone seminar, where revisions and other improvements may also
be required.
University of North Texas
Based in School of Library and Information Science; partnerships with area medical centers and medical
schools. MS program started in 1988 and is an IS program with Health Informatics concentration.
Advanced (Post-Master) Certificate program is for information professionals, librarians and healthcare
professionals, advertized as being highly tailored to individual professional interests. Interdisciplinary
PhD in IS with concentration in HI added in 1992. Two additional graduate certificate programs are
under planning: Medical Digital Imaging and Consumer Health.
Lower than typical grad school admission requirements for MS program (GPA 2.8, rather than usual 3.0),
plus prerequisite of Entry Level Information Technology Knowledge and Skills before the first semester
of enrollment: list of skills is published (like the ones obtained from Info Tools course) and there is an
on-line self-assessment tool. Students scoring below 75% on any of the tool modules are encouraged to
take remedial courses.
MS - 36 credit program with additional internship/field experience, average grade of 3.0 or better plus
successful passing of final examination.
Certificate – 24 credit program (builds on MSIS curriculum)
PhD – 48 credits.
Curriculum (for MS):
Required Core Courses (9 credits)
Introduction to Information Professionals
Introduction to Information Organization
Introduction to Information Access and
Retrieval
Electives (15 credits)
Not specified, should be selected with advisor
Health Informatics Courses (select 12 credits)
Health Sciences Information Management
Medical Informatics
Organization of Information of Clinical Care
Community Based Health Information
Medical Digital Imaging
Internship/Field Experience
In area healthcare organizations, flexibility of
choices.
University of Texas- Houston
Based in School of Health Information Science, which is housed in the Texas Medical Center, but many
faculty are from Biomedical Engineering. Started in 1997. Offers several programs with emphasis on
flexibility of choice of courses/focus, availability of on-line and face-to-face classes:
Graduate Certificate in Health Informatics or Public Health Informatics – 15 credit program
MS - 42 credit program full-time (5 semesters) or part-time (typically 3 years) Concentrations in:
Clinical Informatics, Computational Biomedicine, Learning & Technology or Dual Degree with SPH
PhD – 93 credit program that takes 4 years to complete full-time or 6 years part-time.
Typical admission requirements (Bachelor’s w/ GPA of 3.0, GRE or MAT score)
Curriculum for MS: new in 2007 (adds pre-foundational & foundational courses, same 42 credit RQs)
Pre-foundational Courses (as advised)
Little or no CS and programming skills Information Technology for Biomedicine and
Data Structures and Algorithms in Biomedicine.
No biomedical background Introduction to Clinical Healthcare and
Molecules to Man in Health Informatics.
If not taken college calculusEssential Mathematics for Biomedicine.
Verbal GRE below 640, or MAT score below 432
Technical Writing in Healthcare.
Foundational Courses (min 6 credits)
Foundations of Health Information Sciences I
Foundations of Health Information Sciences II
Foundations of Health Information Sciences III
Basic Courses (3-9 credits)
Introduction to Health Data and Electronic
Health Records
Health Information Systems in the Delivery of
Health Care
Special Topics: Scientific Visualization
Decision Making in Healthcare
Legal Ethical Issues in Health Informatics
Health Information Security Systems
Systems Analysis for Health Informatics
Object Oriented Systems Development in
Health Informatics
Biomedical Signal Processing
Image Processing
Intro to Learning Environments in HS
Cognitive Engineering I in Health Informatics
Intro to Telehealth
Special Topics in Health Informatics
Research Informatics Courses (3-9 credits)
Evaluation in Health Informatics
Research and Evaluation in Health Informatics
Statistical Solutions for Health Informatics
Problems
Data Analysis
Environment Development in Health Science
Methods in Computational Biomedicine
Cognitive Engineering II
Consumer Informatics
Knowledge Modeling II
Triangulation Methods in Health Informatics
Advanced Informatics (3-9 credits)
Advanced Database Concepts
Advanced Health Information Systems
Health Data Display
Knowledge Modeling and Engineering I
Consultation in Health Informatics
Social Dynamics and Health Informatics
Comparative Taxonomy
Healthcare Interface Design
Advanced Decision Analysis I
Project Management in Healthcare
Scientific Writing in Healthcare
Intro to Computational Aspects of Biomedicine
Applied Computational Biomedicine
Advanced Topics in Computational Biomedicine
Datamining in Bioinformatics
Computational Cognitive Neuroscience
Computational Structural Biology
Biomolecular Modeling
Special Topics in Health Informatics
Practicum (6 credits of support courses and 6
hours of practicum)
SPH Based Competitors
Emory University
Offers MSPH in Public Health Informatics
Admission requirements: GPA 3.0 or better, GRE scores above average on all sections, strong
quantitative background (calculus, linear algebra) as well as background health or biomedical sciences
Program requires at least 44 semester hours of coursework plus 4 thesis hours for a total of 48, plus a
200 hour non-credit practicum.
Curriculum (Note differentiated course hours)
Informatics Core Courses
Health Care Data (3 hours)
Principles of Public Health Informatics I
Principles of Public Health Informatics II
Management Principles for Informatics
Database Management Systems
Advanced Database Management System
Geographic Information Systems
Health Outcomes
Introduction to PH Surveillance
Data Analysis Core Courses
Statistical Methods I
Statistical Methods II
Or (For adequately prepared students)
Biostatistical Methods I
Applied Linear Models
Public Health Core Courses
Behavioral Sciences in Public Health
Perspectives in Environmental Health
Epidemiologic Methods I
Introduction to the US Health Care System
2
2
2
3
3
2
3
3
4
4
4
4
2
2
4
2
Practicum
Special Studies Project
Electives (see below)
0
4
6
Electives: We envision that students will
concentrate electives in a particular application
area in order to add depth to their program.
For instance, students will be able to take
elective courses in Health Policy and
Management to gain expertise in clinical
information systems, patient billing systems,
and their interrelationships. Similarly, students
will be able to take electives in biostatistics and
epidemiology to gain additional skills in analytic
methods. Additional elective courses in public
health informatics are also being planned.
Practicum: A student must participate in a
practicum experience of at least 200 hours.
Practicum does not carry any academic credit,
but it is included on the transcript.
University of Illinois at Chicago
Offers MS and a Certificate in Public Health Informatics taught on-line
Admission requirements for MS program: GPA 3.0 or better, GRE scores of at least 1000 (will be waived
for those with graduate or professional degree at the doctoral level, licensed physicians), just
Bacherlor’s degree for Certificate.
MS Program requires at least 51 credits and consists of 6 PH courses 8 informatics courses and a
capstone project. Certificate program consists of 5 courses (see below) and a publication quality paper.
Certificate Courses:
Health Care Data
Health Information and Decision Support Systems
Web-Based Public Health Informatics
Applications Geographic Information Systems in Public Health
Data Mining in Public Health
MS Curriculum
Public Health Courses
Biostatistics I
Public Health Concepts and Practice
Principles of Epidemiology
Principles of Management in Public Health
Principles of Environmental Health Sciences
Behavioral Sciences in Public Health
4
3
3
3
3
3
Informatics Courses
Health Care Data
3
Health Information and Decision Support
Systems
4
Legal and Social Issues in Health Informatics 3
Survey of Health Care Information Systems 4
Management of Health Care Communication
Systems
4
WEB-Based Public Health Informatics
4
Applications of Geographic Information Systems
in Public Health
3
Data Mining in Public Health
3
University of Virginia
Offers MS in Clinical Research – interdisciplinary degree.
Admission Requirements: Bachelor’s degree (no GPA specified), GRE, MCAT, LSAT, or GMAT (those
with Doctoral degrees exempt), also “strong quantitative skills and computer literacy are vital to
success in our program; therefore, special scrutiny is given to evidence of these abilities in each
applicant's materials.”
31 credits can be completed in 9 months of intensive study or over several years on part-time basis.
Curriculum (Note: 12 courses, but 31 credits – some of Fall courses have to be lower credit):
Required Core Courses (Fall)
Introduction to Biostatistics
Fundamentals of Epidemiology
Database Design & Imp
Introduction to SAS
The Practice of PHS
Health Care Research Informatics
Electives (one of two)
Health Care Economics
Health Care Policy & Mgmt
Required Core Courses (Spring)
Health Technology & Outcomes Evaluation
Introduction to Biostatistics II
Applied Epidemiological Methods
Specialty Electives (choose 2)
Clinical Decision Support Systems
Supervised Research
Introduction to Clinical Trials
Health Care Quality Improvement
(One elective substitution allowed with
permission)
New York Medical College
Offers MPH and Graduate Certificate in Health Informatics (15 – credit program). Emphatically
“applied” program to “support of health care providers and public health organizations” – explicitly
(not for research or teaching or general technical education). MPH program builds on regular MPH with
some additional courses.
Admission Requirements: Bachelor’s degree (no GPA specified), GRE, MCAT, LSAT, or GMAT (those
with Doctoral degrees exempt), also “strong quantitative skills and computer literacy are vital to
success in our program; therefore, special scrutiny is given to evidence of these abilities in each
applicant's materials.”
MPH program requires 45-46 credits that can be completed in 2 years of F/T or 3-4 years of P/T study.
MPH Curriculum
Required Core Courses
Required Concentration Courses
Health Care in the United States
Health Economics
Behavioral and Social Aspects of Public Health
Environmental Influences on Human Health
Health Quantitative Sciences I
Health Quantitative Sciences II
Thesis
Practicum (1 credit)
Introduction to Informatics in the Health
Sciences
Information systems concepts and Languages
Management of Health Information Systems
Systems Analysis and Design
Database Management Systems
Distributed Information Systems and Networks
Electives (not specified – 6 credits?)