Biomedical Informatics Certificate programs

Certificate Programs are distance learning, continuing education opportunities, which are supported by the Stanford Center for Professional Development (SCPD). SCPD and the graduate program in Biomedical Informatics have partnered to offer two Certificate options: Bioinformatics and Clinical Informatics.

Distance Education at Stanford
The Bioinformatics Certificate
The Clinical Informatics Certificate
Application and Enrollment
More Information

distance Education at Stanford

Stanford University offers a large catalog of distance education classes. Regular classes drawn from the graduate courses are selected for taping and the lectures are distributed via streaming media over the Internet. Class assignments are sent via web, email or mail and are due at the same time and graded in the same pool of on-campus students. The schedule for distance classes follows the University academic quarter with the same deadlines and criteria for course completion as our graduate students. Classes are offered only when the class is offered live on-campus; occassionally, when there is unusually high demand a class will be offered online more frequently.

While the Biomedical Informatics Program teachs the classes, the Stanford Center for Professional Development provides assistance for distant students, including student registration, technical support, and access to Stanford's resources such as the digital library.

Each class offers full academic credit, up to 18 units of which may be accepted by a Stanford graduate degree program provided these classes are relevant to the program.

Table 1. Certificate Classes: please be aware, class schedules are subject to change. Typically, the University releases schedule information for the next academic year in late June. Stanford is on the quarter system. You will find more information about the academic schedule at the Registrar's webpage.

Certificate Programs Offered by Biomedical Informatics Training Program
	You must take 3 of these classes to earn the Certificate (updated Sept. 12, 2007)
Bioinformatics Certificate	Biomedin 217 Translational Bioinformatics (Bio Focus) Biomedin 234: Biomedical Genomics (Bio Focus) (not offered in 2006-2007) SB 228: Computational Structural Biology (Bio Focus class) Bioc 218 Computational Molecular Biology (Bio Focus Class) Bioc 228 Computational Genomic Biology (Bio Focus Class) Bioc 238 Computational Proteomic Biology (Bio Focus Class) Bioc 248 Computational Systems Biology (Bio Focus Class - coming in 2008-2009 academic year) Biomedin 214: Representations and Algorithms for Computational Molecular Biology (CS Focus class: this class is required for the Certificate) CS 262: Computational Genomics (CS Focus class) CS 273 Algorithms for Structure & Motion in Biology has been cancelled
Clinical Informatics Certificate	Biomedin 210 Introduction to Biomedical Informatics: Fundamental Methods Biomedin 211 Introduction to Biomedical Systems MS&E 152 Introduction to Decision Science
Enrollment Instructions	Enrollment Instructions

Certificate in Bioinformatics

The Bioinformatics Certificate program is designed to meet the demands of a rapidly-changing field. New and more powerful methods of probing biological systems create the need to process diverse information quickly and apply it widely. As more information about genomes, proteomes, and biological networks is added to our traditional stores of biological information, our need visualize, analyze, annotate and extract knowledge from information grows both specialized and more diverse.

The Bioinformatics Certificate program is designed address this need. The Certificate requirements ensures that essential skills for bioinformatics will be obtained while providing flexibility to suit the background and interests of a diverse audience.

Those interested in obtaining the Certificate must take one class from the Bio focus and one class from the CS focus (note BMI 214 fulfills the CS focus requirement). Students must meet the prerequisites for each course or show evidence of such knowledge in their background, including the ability to program in a language such as C or C++ (for Biomedin 214) and knowledge of molecular biology at the level of Biochemistry 203, which is taught to first year graduate students at Stanford. Upon registration, the instructor for the course will review the background of each student to ensure that these prerequisites are met.

Prerequisites for Biomedin 214 - vector algebra, 2 semester or quarters of programming classes
Prerequisites for Biology focus classes - 4 semesters or quarters of cellular biology, molecular biology, biochemistry
Prerequisites for CS 262 - CS 161 Design and analysis of algorithms or equivalent

The Certificate in Bioinformatics will be awarded on completion of three required courses with a letter grade of B or better in each course. Upon satisfactory completion of the classes required for the Certificate, contact the Stanford Center for Professional Development, Student Services and request your Certificate. You may request an official University transcript as well.

Certificate in Clinical Informatics

The health care industry faces enormous challenges in the near future. With increasing globalization, the spread of infectious agents is counted in hours not days or weeks. The speed at which we need to monitor, diagnose, and treat epidemics has risen exponentially. In the first world, the average age of the population is rising leading to increased need for health care. Meanwhile, modern molecular biology has given us the tools to probe organisms at the most fundamental level while simultaneously unleashing an avalanche of data which we can no longer analyze with traditional methods. Understanding the genetic basis of disease and responses to treatment leads to the possibility of individualized medicine. Physicians must rapidly manage an increasingly complex set of desiderata as demand for sophisticated health care rises. The need to integrate biomedical data to understand the cause of disease, develop treatments and integrate with an increasingly mobile population leads to the need to develop information technologies which can rapidly store, manage, visualize and integrate biomedical data in order to deliver this information to the patient anywhere in the world.

The Clinical Informatics Certificate addresses the fundamental topics necessary for the development of a clinical information system. Issues such as how to represent knowledge, controlled terminologies information dissemination and retrieval, ontologies, algorithms, decision-support, decision science and implementation of information systems are covered.

Prerequisites: Experience with a modern object-oriented programming language such as Java or C++.
Non-health care professionals must enroll in Imm 230 Introduction to Medicine

Application Process for the Certificate

There is no application process to enroll for the Certificate program. You enroll for each of the classes. If you earn a grade of B or better for each of the three classes required for the Certificate, contact SCPD and the Certificate will be awarded. Enroll for each class by clicking on the on the links above. You will be taken to a course description webpage. Enrollment instructions for each class are included on the webpage.

Unlike the other online programs (i.e., Professional M.S.), SCPD membership is not required for the Certificates. You are not required to be an employee of a company that is an SCPD member.

Funding is not available and there is no academic discount.

More Information

The Biomedical Informatic program also offers short courses online which do not carry any academic credit, see SCPD Professional Education Classes, under "Biomedical Informatics"

The Biomedical Informatics Program offers a distance education Masters degree program.

For further information about distance education at Stanford, see Stanford Center for Professional Development

For more information about SCPD classes and programs in the Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, see Distance education options in Biomedical Science and Engineering

Updated Sept. 12, 2007