About BMI
Stanford University's Biomedical Informatics (BMI) training program is an interdepartmental program offering instruction and research opportunities leading to an M.S. or Ph.D. in Biomedical Informatics. This interdisciplinary program responds to a recognized need for well-trained researchers and academic leaders in the expanding field of biomedical informatics. The BMI program was formerly called Medical Informatics Sciences (1982-2000). The program is administratively based in Stanford Medical Informatics (SMI) in the School of Medicine. It is overseen by the Graduate Studies Committee of Stanford University, and is a free-standing unit for purposes of granting degrees. The participating faculty of the program, which numbers over 30 participants, is drawn broadly from throughout the medical school, from other parts of the university, and from collaborators from outside of the university. The program broadly includes two areas: bioinformatics and medical informatics.
Students receive training in the investigation of new approaches to conceptual modeling and to development of new algorithms that address challenging problems in the biological sciences and clinical medicine. Student with a primary interest in developing new informatics methods and knowledge are best suited for this program. Students who seek graduate work in biology emphasizing computation and who wish to use computational methods in their pursuit of research questions in the natural sciences will be better suited for Stanford's graduate programs in the biosciences, including departments such as Genetics, Structural Biology, and Developmental Biology.
The design of the Stanford program reflects our belief that the newness of the field of biomedical informatics, the need for trained BMI professionals, and the broad opportunities available at Stanford make it appropriate to provide a wide range of training options.