Curriculum

The required BHI core coursework reflects the importance and interaction of our practice domains ranging from human biology to clinical medicine and consumer health to public health. Students complement their core coursework with additional courses in statistics and advanced research methods, as well as electives drawn from other UW academic units. Departmental seminars are also offered that present new and integrative research in the field.

Please see the MS coursework requirements and PhD coursework requirements for full details.   Below is a more informal listing of the classes, including some example electives:

BHI Program Core Coursework Requirements: All courses listed below are to be numerically graded, with the exception of Research Seminars, and the student must pass all these with individual grades of at least 2.7. Courses count for 3-4 credits (in parentheses), for a total of 30 credits.

• BIME 530   Introduction to Biomedical & Health Informatics (3)
• BIME 533   Public Health and Informatics (3)
• BIME 534   Biology and Informatics (3)
• BIME 535   Clinical Care and Informatics (3)
• BIME 537   Informatics Research and Evaluation Methods (4)
• BIME 550   Knowledge Representation and Applications (3)
• BIME 554   Biomedical Information Interactions and Design (4)
• BIME 543   Consumer Health and Informatics (3)*
• BIOST 517 Applied Biostatistics I (or BIOST 537 Survival Data Analysis in Epidemiology or other equivalent biostatistics graduate course with approval) (4)**

*  effective for Autumn 2015 cohort and later
** effective for Autumn 2014 cohort and later

See our course description page for more detailed information about each course. The above nine courses are required for all MS and PhD students. (In addition, all postdoctoral fellows must take four of the BIME courses; please see postdoc coursework requirements.) BHI core courses may be completed during one’s first year, as shown in the table below. Each course is offered only once a year in the quarters indicated. MS Students are not required to take all of the BHI core courses during their first year, but instead, may take core courses with more flexibility in order to incorporate electives, rotations, and research.

Fall Quarter – First Year 

• BIME 530 Introduction to Biomedical & Health Informatics
• BIOST 517 Applied Biostatistics I
• BIME 543 Consumer Health and Informatics

Winter Quarter – First Year

• BIME 550 Knowledge Representation and Applications
• BIME 533 Public Health and Informatics
• BIME 537 Informatics Research and Evaluation Methods

Spring Quarter – First Year 

• BIME 554 Biomedical Information Interactions and Design
• BIME 534 Biology and Informatics
• BIME 535 Clinical Care and Informatics

Graduate students must also take a number of  research seminars and electives. Please see the MS coursework requirements and PhD coursework requirements for full details. The electives below are just examples, and there are many other courses that may be appropriate electives for BHI students. In addition to coursework, all BHI graduate students are expected to carry out research activity throughout their entire MS or PhD studies, beginning during their first quarter. The activities can include work with their assigned academic advisor, a research rotation advisor, an RA supervisor, or similar approved activities (e.g., approved external internships, or approved Curricular Practical Training).

When appropriate, students register for BIME 600 credits for this research activity; during the first year the workload is often only 1-2 credits per quarter, but we expect students to increase their research efforts in later years (up to 10 credits/quarter).

Research seminars (6 for MS, 12 for PhD)): In addition to the numerically graded courses listed above, all students must complete six (MS) or twelve (PhD) BHI research seminar credits. Please see the MS coursework requirements and PhD coursework requirements for details about these research seminars.

Professionalism and Communication in BHI Seminars: In addition, all PhD and MS students must take a series of 1-credit seminars on Professionalism and Communication (BIME 585,586, 587) . Each seminar is 1 credit and should be taken in Autumn, Winter and Spring quarters of their first year.

BHI Research Seminars:

• BIME 590 Selected Topics in Biomedical and Health Informatics
• BIME 591 Biomedical and Health Informatics Research Colloquium
• BIME 585, 586, 587 Professionalism and Communication in Biomedical Informatics

Example electives outside BHI: