This autumn the Biomedical and Health Informatics Division of the Department of Medical Education and Biomedical Informatics begins offering its new Ph.D. degree program. The UW Board of Regents approved the program in July.

Several students who completed the Division’s master’s program are continuing in the Ph.D. program.

The curriculum features interdisciplinary collaboration and interfaces between basic research and its practical uses. The program gives students a core understanding of informatics concepts, research methods, and applications that can be used in pursuing their own professional interests.

The curriculum covers four foundational areas: biomedical data and knowledge representation, biomedical information access, biomedical decision making, and the use of information technology in biomedical contexts. Students in the program can acquire, augment, and apply their knowledge to biology, clinical practice and public health, or informatics issues.

The students will also take methods courses and depth of knowledge courses. In addition, seminars and a journal club will introduce them to current research.

The program director is Ira Kalet, associate professor of medical education, Division of Biomedical and Health Informatics. Kalet is also an associate professor in radiation oncology and has adjunct appointments in computer science and engineering, bioengineering, and biological structure.

The head of the Division of Biomedical and Health Informatics is Peter Tarczy-Hornoch, associate professor of medical education and associate professor of pediatrics, Division of Neonatology.

For more information on the Ph.D. program, see the Biomedical and Health Informatics Division Web site:

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