curriculum overview
Students in the BMI program may focus on any aspect of information management and analysis relevant to biomedical research. They are united in their interest in using information technology to analyze and understand biomedical data, and in developing new methods for using information to improve health care.
The BMI core curriculum requires training in five areas:
1. Biomedical Informatics (17 units): the methods used to represent knowledge and develop biomedical models.
2. Computer Science (9 units): the expertise required to implement these representations and models,
3. Probability, Statistics and Decision Science (9 units): the methods for managing uncertain biomedical data.
4. Biomedical Domain Knowledge (5 units): the specialized knowledge necessary to identify and make impact upon important biomedical problems.
5. Ethics and Social Policy (6 or 3 units): to understand the societal implications of novel informatics technologies. PhD candidates must take 6 units, MS students are required to take 3 units. For students matriculating in Autumn 2007, 3 units plus Med 255 Responsible Conduct of Research (1 unit) are required for both PhD and MS students.
The The new BMI Pre-requisite and Curriculum Overview Tables (see the links on the navigation column on left of this page) summarizes the pre-requisites for the program, and the overall number of units in each of the five areas of our curriculum. The Stanford Bulletin has the latest information on courses in the biomedical informatics program. There are many classes related to bioinformatics and medical informatics in many other departments, such as, Genetics, Statistics, Computer Science and other departments.
An academic advisor is assigned to each student. The academic advisor
discusses curriculum design, scheduling of classes, and advises the student
about course content. By the beginning of the second year, PhD and NLM-funded (50% research project is required)
MS students should select a research advisor.