Ph.D. Curriculum | Biomedical Informatics

The Ph.D. in Medical Sciences with a concentration Biomedical Informatics (BMI) is a minimum 90-credit-hour degree program, with at least 39 credits specific to the BMI concentration.

The Ph.D. in Medical Sciences Biomedical Informatics concentration curriculum is comprised of:

Preview of the cover page for the 2023 HOBI student handbook.

Fall 2023

HOBI Student Handbook

Find necessary program information, mentorship advice, our code of conduct and graduation requirements in the HOBI Student Handbook.

Core Courses

M.S. students in the BMI concentration must complete all 6 required courses.

Core | 6 Courses (17 Credits)

Course title credits
GMS 6803 Data Science for Clinical Research 3 Letter-grade
GMS 6804 Translational Bioinformatics 3 Letter-grade
GMS 6805 Information Modeling in Biomedicine 3 Letter-grade
GMS 6850 Foundations of Biomedical Informatics 3 Letter-grade
GMS 7877 Responsible Conduct of Biomedical Research (Formerly GMS 7003) 1 Letter-grade
GMS 7887 HOBI PhD Research Seminar (2 credits/summer semesters during years 1 & 2) 4 S/U

Foundation Courses

Ph.D. students in the BMI concentration must complete four foundation courses from the options below.

Foundation | 4 Courses (12 Credits)

Course Title CREDITS
GMS 6806 Security and Privacy in Clinical Research 3 Letter-grade
GMS 6856 Introduction to Biomedical Natural Language Processing 3 Letter-grade
GMS 7858 Causal Artificial Intelligence for Health Research 3 Letter-grade
GMS 7866 Principles of Referent Tracking in Biomedical Informatics 3 Letter-grade
GMS 6822 Measuring and Analyzing Health Outcomes 3 Letter-grade
PHC 6405 or PHC 6001 Theoretical Foundations of Public Health or Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health 3 Letter-grade
STA 6166 or PHC 6050 or PHC 6052 Statistical Methods in Research I or Statistical Methods for Health Sci Res I or Introduction to Biostatistical Methods 3 Letter-grade
BME 6938 Introduction to Biomedical Image Analysis and Imaging Informatics 3 Letter-grade
CEN 5035 Software Engineering 3 Letter-grade
COP 5725 Database Management Systems 3 Letter-grade

Advanced Electives

Ph.D. students in the BMI concentration must complete 11 advanced elective credits subject to mentor approval including but not limited to the following suggestions.

Advanced Electives | 11 Credits with Mentor Approval Required

Course Title Credits
CAP 5100 Human-Computer Interaction 3 Letter-grade
CAP 5510 Bioinformatics 3 Letter-grade
CAP 5635 Artificial Intelligence Concepts 3 Letter-grade
CAP 6610 Machine Learning 3 Letter-grade
COP 5725 Database Management Systems 3 Letter-grade
COT 5405 Analysis of Algorithms 3 Letter-grade
COT 5615 Mathematics for intelligent Systems 3 Letter-grade
COP 5618 Concurrent Programming 3 Letter-grade
BME 6938 Special Topics: Machine Learning for Health and Biomedical Applications 3 Letter-grade
STA 6167 Statistical Methods in Research II 3 Letter-grade
GMS 6848 Ensuring Rigor and Reproducibility in Clinical and Translational Research 1 Letter-grade
GMS 6857 Clinical Decision Support Systems 3 Letter-grade
GMS 7093 Introduction to Clinical and Translational Research 2 Letter-grade
STA 5325 Fundamentals of Probability 3 Letter-grade
STA 6826 Stochastic Processes I 3 Letter-grade
PHC 6053 Regression Methods for the Health and Life Sciences 3 Letter-grade
GMS 6029 AI Journal Club 1 S/U

Research Credits

PhD students in the Biomedical Informatics track will complete a minimum of 50 credits of independent research study. GMS 7979 Advanced Research can be taken after completion of the student’s core courses, and in the summer semesters if needed.

After the preliminary exams, students may also register for GMS 7979 Advanced Research until successful defense of their dissertation proposal. GMS 7980 Research for Doctoral Dissertation must be taken after a student successfully defends their proposal and must be taken continuously until graduation. More information on these requirements are available in the HOBI Student Handbook.

Research Credits (50 credits)

Course Title credits
GMS 7979 & GMS 7980 Advanced Research / Research for Doctoral Dissertation 50 S/U

Total: 90 credits minimum