yale health informatics phd

Health Informatics Mastertrack

Published: Summer 2021

Description

Health informatics (HI) is an in demand field comprising applied research and the practice of informatics across clinical and public health domains. Informatics researchers develop, introduce, and evaluate new biomedically motivated methods in areas as diverse as data mining, natural language or text processing, cognitive science, human-computer interaction, decision support, databases and algorithms for analyzing large amounts of data generated in public health, clinical research and genomics/proteomics.

In this online program, you will develop the skills and knowledge around data, health and informatics needed to attract attention from recruiters and hiring managers in the fast growing healthcare industry.

You will gain a thorough understanding of the field of health informatics and its various subfields, including research, laboratory/precision medicine, imaging, and artificial intelligence. You will also explore the themes that serve as the foundation for different areas of biomedical informatics, including clinical and neuro-informatics.

Throughout four courses and hands-on projects, you will leverage the expertise of faculty from the Division of Health Informatics at the Yale School of Public Health, learning from real-world projects and live sessions with groups of high-caliber peers.

By committing 6-8 hours of online study per week for about 7 months, you can earn a Yale-issued Health Informatics MasterTrack Certificate that can help you in your future graduate studies or professional pursuits in both public health departments (e.g. CDC, local government) and the private sector (e.g. organizations that employ computer scientists and mathematicians/statisticians). After successfully completing the MasterTrack, you will also be eligible for conditional credit if accepted into the Yale School of Public Health’s Master of Public Health (MPH) graduate degree program.

Upon successful completion of this MasterTrack Certificate, you will be eligible to earn 2 conditional credits counting towards the Yale School of Public Health’s MPH program if accepted.

Program Takeaways

• Take the next step in your biomedical, clinical, and public health career by exploring innovative approaches to data and knowledge management in a live, simulated environment taught by Health Informatics faculty at the Yale School of Public Health.
• Complete industry-relevant hands-on projects to build your portfolio

This program is available 100% online through Coursera. Learners who successfully complete MasterTrack and matriculate to YSPH may receive two retroactive credits towards their degree.

Health Informatics is a diverse and varied field. This course provides an introduction to informatics topics pertinent to healthcare and serves as a foundation for other informatics-related courses. Through lectures, discussions, and real-world applications, students will gain foundational knowledge in clinical information systems, biomedical data, health data standards, electronic health records, clinical decision support, health data security and telemedicine.

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the design, function, and evaluation of clinical information systems
• Examine the role and utility of data standards in Health Informatics
• Discuss privacy and confidentiality issues around clinical data
• Analyze important frameworks for clinical decision making and how this knowledge integrates into clinical decision support systems

This course picks up where Course 1 leaves off and introduces additional key informatics topics pertinent to healthcare. Through lectures, discussions, and real-world applications, students will survey a variety of informatics subfields including artificial intelligence, bioinformatics and precision medicine, data warehouses and registries, research informatics, electronic quality metrics and IT evaluation, software tools, and open science.

• Discuss the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence in healthcare
• Explain the factors that influence the delivery of personalized medical experiences
• Analyze the function and role of data warehouses and registries
• Examine the impact of clinical research informatics
• Explore and analyze innovations in digital health

This course provides an introduction to common unifying themes that serve as the foundation for different areas of biomedical informatics, including clinical and neuro-informatics. Through lectures, tutorials, discussions, and applied practice, students will learn how to build databases and utilize computational tools for use in biomedical research.

• Explore Python and Google Colab
• Define the SQL and NoSQL database models
• Discuss the challenges of data integration
• Identify the pros and cons of data warehouses and federated databases
• Examine semantic web as a NoSQL database technology
• Analyze ontology-driven applications

The course is designed for students with coding knowledge and an advanced level of experience using biomedical software.

This course builds off of Course 3 by taking a deeper dive into topics in biomedical informatics and data science. Through lectures, tutorials, discussions, and applied practice, students will explore biomedical natural language processing, data mining, machine learning, modeling of biological systems, and high performance computation in biomedicine.

• Define natural language processing (NLP) and clinical NLP
• Process and parse unstructured text narratives and transform the text into a structured format using natural language processing methods
• Build and evaluate different data classification models
• Enhance performance of the data models using different techniques such as feature selection and ensemble learning
• Apply basic python programming skills to better understand natural language processing and machine learning
• The course is designed for students with coding knowledge and an advanced level of experience using biomedical software

Also in this subject

Evolution and Medicine

Essentials of Global Health

Digital Media for Health Outcomes

Healthcare Management

It looks like you're trying to zoom in on this page. For best results: use the most recent version of your browser, disable your browser's 'zoom text only' setting, and use your browser's default font size settings.

To zoom in, use [Ctrl] + [+] in Windows, and [Cmd] + [+] on a Mac. To zoom out, use the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl] + [-] in Windows and [Cmd] + [-] on a Mac.

Yale University

Additional Navigation

Graduate & professional study.

Yale offers advanced degrees through its Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and 13 professional schools. Browse the organizations below for information on programs of study, academic requirements, and faculty research.

Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

Yale’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences offers programs leading to M.A., M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in 73 departments and programs.

School of Architecture

The Yale School of Architecture’s mandate is for each student to understand architecture as a creative, productive, innovative, and responsible practice.

School of Art

The Yale School of Art has a long and distinguished history of training artists of the highest caliber.

Divinity School

Yale Divinity School educates the scholars, ministers, and spiritual leaders of the future.

David Geffen School of Drama

The David Geffen School of Drama graduates have raised the standards of professional practice around the world in every theatrical discipline, creating bold art that engages the mind and delights the senses.

School of Engineering & Applied Science

The Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science is at the cutting edge of research to develop technologies that address global societal problems.

School of the Environment

The School of the Environment is dedicated to sustaining and restoring the long-term health of the biosphere and the well-being of its people.

Jackson School of Global Affairs

The Jackson School of Global Affairs trains and equips a new generation of leaders to devise thoughtful, evidence-based solutions for challenging global problems.

Yale Law School hones the world’s finest legal minds in an environment that features world-renowned faculty, small classes, and countless opportunities for clinical training and public service.

School of Management

School of Management students, faculty, and alumni are committed to understanding the complex forces transforming global markets and building organizations that contribute lasting value to society.

School of Medicine

Yale School of Medicine graduates go on to become leaders in academic medicine and health care, and innovators in clinical practice, biotechnology, and public policy.

School of Music

The Yale School of Music is an international leader in educating the creative musicians and cultural leaders of tomorrow.

School of Nursing

The Yale School of Nursing community is deeply committed to the idea that access to high quality patient‐centered health care is a social right, not a privilege.

School of Public Health

The School of Public Health supports research and innovative programs that protect and improve the health of people around the globe.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences is composed of the departments and academic programs that provide instruction in Yale College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Centers & Institutes

A number of our centers and institutes offer additional opportunities for graduate and professional study.

• Standardized Testing Requirements
• PhD/Master's Application Process

Please review the standardized testing requirements for your program of study and register for any required examination(s) as soon as possible. Testing centers and available testing dates fill quickly.  

Use your legal name as it appears on your passport when registering for any standardized test (and also on your application for admission).

For more information, please review our FAQs on Standardized Tests .

Graduate Record Examination (GRE) 

The GRE is required for some degree programs at the Graduate School. Please check the table below to see if your program requires it.  

• Required = You must submit GRE General Test results. 
• Optional = You may submit GRE General Test results if you wish. If you choose to submit scores, you must follow any self-reported scores with official test results. 
• Not Accepted = Do not submit GRE General Test results. GRE General Test scores will not be considered when applications are reviewed. If you submit scores, they will not be reviewed.

Test requirements below are for the 2024-2025 application cycle.

Last updated July 2, 2024. Subject to change.

*Applicants to a combined degree program should consult both programs' admissions requirements and submit scores if either of the two programs require the GRE General Test and/or Subject Tests.

Submitting Official GRE Scores  

Official GRE scores must be sent to Yale University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, directly from ETS.

• Use Institution Code 3987.  
• You do not need to enter an individual department code when sending your official scores. Institution Code 3987 is sufficient.  
• Paper score reports are not accepted.  
• Scores released to other schools at Yale University cannot be transferred to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.  
• If you are applying to a PhD program associated with one of the professional schools at Yale, send your official scores directly to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Institution Code 3987) and not to the professional schools, which may have a separate code for applicants applying to other degree programs.  
• You should also self-report scores and any future test dates in your application.  

The Educational Testing Service administers the GRE in the United States and abroad. For details and registration forms, visit their site at www.ets.org .

English Language Tests - TOEFL iBT / IELTS Academic

TOEFL iBT or IELTS Academic is required of most applicants whose native language is not English.

You may be exempt from this requirement if you have received (or will receive) an undergraduate degree from a college or university where English is the primary language of instruction, and if you have studied in residence at that institution for at least three years. See "Exemptions" for more information. 

Official TOEFL iBT scores may be used to fulfill the English Language Test requirement.

• Scores must be sent to Yale University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, directly from ETS.
• Use Institution Code 3987.
• You do not need to enter an individual department code when sending your official scores. Institution Code 3987 is sufficient.
• Paper score reports are not acceptable and scores released to other schools at Yale University cannot be transferred to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
• If you are applying to a PhD program associated with one of the professional schools at Yale, send your official scores directly to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Institution Code 3987) and not to the individual professional schools, which may have separate codes for applicants applying to other degree programs.

The Educational Testing Service administers the TOEFL in the United States and abroad. For details and registration forms, visit their site at https://www.ets.org/ .

Official IELTS Academic scores may be used to fulfill the English Language Test requirement.

• We will only accept official scores submitted electronically by the IELTS test center via the E-Delivery service.
• When you take this test, please specify Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (also known as the Office of Graduate Admissions) as a score recipient. To identify us in the IELTS system, our address is Warner House, 1 Hillhouse Avenue, room 302, New Haven, CT 06511. Please do not send paper score reports to this address.
• We do not accept paper Test Report Forms, nor do we verify Test Report Forms (TRFs).
• We accept only IELTS Academic test scores. The IELTS General Training module is not accepted.

For more information and to register for the test, please visit https://ielts.org/

If you have received (or will receive) an undergraduate degree from a college or university where English is the primary language of instruction, and if you have studied in residence at that institution for at least three years, you are exempt from the English Language Test requirement and are not required to submit the TOEFL or IELTS.

No exemptions are made on the basis of an advanced degree (e.g., MA/MS or PhD) from any institution.

When you complete your application, you will answer questions about your native language and the primary language of instruction at your baccalaureate institution. If either was English, you will not be required to submit TOEFL or IELTS scores when you submit your application. No separate documentation is necessary. 

Note: If you are not required to report TOEFL or IELTS scores (i.e. you are exempt because English is your native language or was the language of instruction at your undergraduate institution and you were in residence three years or more), but you choose to self-report your TOEFL or IELTS scores in the application anyways, you will be required to also submit official test results for verification purposes.

General Management Admission Test (GMAT) - For Applicants to Management (PhD)

The General Management Admission Test (GMAT) is acceptable in lieu of the GRE for applicants to the PhD program in Management.

• To send official GMAT results, select Code 3TJ-30-78 for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
• Paper score reports are not accepted and scores released to other schools of Yale University cannot be transferred or used.

• Mission, Facts and Figures
• Deans, Chairs and Staff
• Leadership Council
• Dean in the News
• Get Involved
• DEIB Mission
• Message from DEIB Associate Dean
• News and Media
• Reading Lists
• The Yale and Slavery Research Project
• Photo Gallery
• Winslow Medal
• Coat of Arms & Mace
• $50 Million Challenge
• For Pandemic Prevention and Global Health
• For Understanding the Health Impacts of Climate Change
• For Health Equity and Justice
• For Powering Health Solutions through Data Science
• For Future Leaders
• For Faculty Leaders
• For Transformational Efforts
• Data, Leadership, and Collaboration at the School of Public Health
• An abiding love for Yale turns into a lasting gift – in 15 minutes
• Endowed Professorship Created at Critical Time for Yale School of Public Health
• Brotherly encouragement spurs gift to support students
• Prestipino creates opportunities for YSPH students, now and later
• Alumna gives back to the school that “opened doors” in male-dominated field
• For Public Health, a Broad Mission and a Way to Amplify Impact
• Couple Endows Scholarship to Put Dreams in Reach for YSPH Students
• A Match Made at YSPH
• A HAPPY Meeting of Public Health and the Arts
• Generous Gift Bolsters Diversity & Inclusion
• Alumni Donations Aid Record Number of YSPH Students
• YSPH’s Rapid Response Fund Needs Donations – Rapidly
• Podiatric Medicine and Orthopedics as Public Health Prevention
• Investing in Future Public Health Leaders
• Support for Veterans and Midcareer Students
• Donor Eases Burden for Policy Students
• A Personal Inspiration for Support of Cancer Research
• Reducing the Burden of Student Debt
• Learning About Global Health Through Global Travel
• A Meeting in Dubai, and a Donation to the School
• Rapid Response Fund
• Planned Giving
• Testimonials
• Assistant Professor - Biostatistics
• Assistant/Associate Professor - Environmental Toxicology
• Associate Research Scientist - Data Science and Data Equity
• Associate Research Scientist - Health Policy and Management
• Associate Research Scientist - YCAS
• Postdoctoral Associate - Computational Biology
• LGBTQ Mental Health Postdoctoral Clinical Research Associate in NYC
• Postdoctoral Associate - Health Policy and Management
• Postdoctoral Associate - Data Science and Data Equity
• Postdoctoral Associate - CMIPS
• Postdoctoral Associate - Environmental Health Sciences
• Postdoctoral Associate - Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Postdoctoral Associate - Malaria Genomics and Vaccinology
• Postdoctoral Associate - McDougal Lab
• Postgraduate Associate - Data, Modeling, and Decision Analysis
• For the Media
• Issues List
• PDF Issues for Download
• Editorial Style Guide
• Social Media
• Shared Humanity Podcast
• Health & Veritas Podcast
• Maps and Directions
• Accreditation
• Faculty Directory by Name
• Career Achievement Awards
• Annual Research Awards
• Teaching Spotlights
• Biostatistics
• Chronic Disease Epidemiology
• Climate Change and Health Concentration
• Environmental Health Sciences
• Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
• Global Health
• Health Policy and Management
• Implementation Science Track
• Maternal and Child Health Promotion Track
• Public Health Modeling Concentration
• Social & Behavioral Sciences
• U.S. Health Justice Concentration
• Why Public Health at Yale
• Events and Contact
• What Does it Take to be a Successful YSPH Student?
• How to Apply and FAQs
• Orientation Schedule
• Traveling to Yale
• Meet Students and Alumni
• Past Internship Spotlights
• Student-run Organizations
• MS and PhD Student Leaders
• Staff Spotlights
• Life in New Haven
• Libraries at Yale
• The MPH Internship Experience
• Practicum Course Offerings
• Summer Funding and Fellowships
• Downs Fellowship Committee
• Stolwijk Fellowship
• Climate Change and Health
• Career Management Center
• What You Can Do with a Yale MPH
• MPH Career Outcomes
• MS Career Outcomes
• PhD Career Outcomes
• Employer Recruiting
• Tuition and Expenses
• External Funding and Scholarships
• External Fellowships for PhD Candidates
• Alumni Spotlights
• Bulldog Perks
• Stay Involved
• Update Your Info
• Board of Directors
• Emerging Majority Affairs Committee
• Award Nomination Form
• Board Nomination Form
• Alumni Engagement Plus
• Mentorship Program
• The Mentoring Process
• For Mentors
• For Students
• Recent Graduate Program
• Transcript and Verification Requests
• Applied Practice and Student Research
• Competencies and Career Paths
• Applied Practice and Internships
• Student Research
• Seminar and Events
• Competencies and Career paths
• Why the YSPH Executive MPH
• Message from the Program Director
• Two-year Hybrid MPH Schedule
• The Faculty
• Student Profiles
• Newsletter Articles
• Approved Electives
• Physicians Associates Program
• Joint Degrees with International Partners
• MS in Biostatistics Standard Pathway
• MS Implementation and Prevention Science Methods Pathway
• MS Data Sciences Pathway
• Internships and Student Research
• Competencies
• Degree Requirements - Quantitative Specialization
• Degree Requirements - Clinical Specialization
• Degree Requirements- PhD Biostatistics Standard Pathway
• Degree Requirements- PhD Biostatistics Implementation and Prevention Science Methods Pathway
• Meet PhD Students in Biostatistics
• Meet PhD Students in CDE
• Degree Requirements and Timeline
• Meet PhD Students in EHS
• Meet PhD Students in EMD
• Meet PhD Students in HPM
• Degree Requirements - PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Degree Requirements - PhD SBS Program Maternal and Child Health Promotion
• Meet PhD Students in SBS
• Differences between MPH and MS degrees
• Academic Calendar
• Translational Alcohol Research Program
• Molecular Virology/Epidemiology Training Program (MoVE-Kaz)
• For Public Health Practitioners and Workforce Development
• Course Description
• Instructors
• Registration
• Coursera Offerings
• Non-degree Students
• International Initiatives & Partnerships
• NIH-funded Summer Research Experience in Environmental Health (SREEH)
• Summer International Program in Environmental Health Sciences (SIPEHS)
• 2023 Student Awards
• 2022 Student Awards
• APHA Annual Meeting & Expo
• National Public Health Week (NPHW)
• Leaders in Public Health
• YSPH Dean's Lectures
• The Role of Data in Public Health Equity & Innovation Conference
• Innovating for the Public Good
• Practice- and community-based research and initiatives
• Practice and community-based research and initiatives
• Activist in Residence Program
• The Data & The Solutions
• Publications
• Health Care Systems and Policy
• Heart Disease and Stroke
• Panels, Seminars and Workshops (Recordings)
• Rapid Response Fund Projects
• SalivaDirect™
• Emerging Infections Program - COVID-NET
• Public Health Modeling Unit Projects
• HIV-AIDS-TB
• The Lancet 2023 Series on Breastfeeding
• 'Omics
• News in Biostatistics
• Biostatistics Overview
• Seminars and Events
• Seminar Recordings
• Statistical Genetics/Genomics, Spatial Statistics and Modeling
• Causal Inference, Observational Studies and Implementation Science Methodology
• Health Informatics, Data Science and Reproducibility
• Clinical Trials and Outcomes
• Machine Learning and High Dimensional Data Analysis
• News in CDE
• Nutrition, Diabetes, Obesity
• Maternal and Child Health
• Outcomes Research
• Health Disparities
• Women's Health
• News in EHS
• EHS Seminar Recordings
• Climate change and energy impacts on health
• Developmental origins of health and disease
• Environmental justice and health disparities
• Enviromental related health outcomes
• Green chemistry solutions
• Novel approaches to assess environmental exposures and early markers of effect
• 1,4 Dioxane
• Reproducibility
• Tissue Imaging Mass Spectrometry
• Alcohol and Cancer
• Olive Oil and Health
• Lightning Talks
• News in EMD
• Antimicrobial Resistance
• Applied Public Health and Implementation Science
• Emerging Infections and Climate Change
• Global Health/Tropical Diseases
• HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections
• Marginalized Population Health & Equity
• Pathogen Genomics, Diagnostics, and Molecular Epidemiology
• Vector-borne and Zoonotic Diseases
• Disease Areas
• EMD Research Day
• News in HPM
• Health Systems Reform
• Quality, Efficiency and Equity of Healthcare
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health
• Modeling: Policy, Operations and Disease
• Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Medical Devices
• Health and Wellbeing
• News in SBS
• Aging Health
• Community Engagement
• Health Equity
• Mental Health
• Reproductive Health
• Sexuality and Health
• Nutrition, Exercise
• Stigma Prevention
• Community Partners
• For Public Health Practitioners
• Reports and Publications
• Fellows Stipend Application
• Agency Application
• Past Fellows
• PHFP in the News
• Frequently Asked Questions
• International Activity
• Research Publications
• Grant Listings
• Modeling Analyses
• 3 Essential Questions Series

INFORMATION FOR

• Prospective Students
• Incoming Students
• myYSPH Members

MS Competencies in HI

• Select informatics methods appropriate for a given public health context
• Compare the health information system structure and function across regional national and international settings
• Assess population informatics needs, assets and capacities that affect communities’ health
• Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health informatics
• Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation
• Apply systems thinking tools to a public health informatics issue

INFORMATION FOR

• Residents & Fellows
• Researchers

Daniel Sarpong, PhD

Senior Research Scientist (General Medicine)

Dr. Daniel F. Sarpong, trained biostatistician, is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of General Internal Medicine and Executive Director of the Office of Health Equity Research (OHER). Dr. Sarpong’s research focuses on translational research exploring innovative approaches to mitigating biological and social determinants of health disparities in primarily chronic diseases. Before joining Yale University in the School of Medicine, He was a Tenured Professor of Biostatistics, Endowed Chair of Health Disparities, and Director of the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (CMHDRE) at the Xavier University of Louisiana. Additionally, he served as the Director of the Community Engagement Cores of Xavier RCMI Cancer Center and the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science (LA CaTS) Center. During 2000 and 2010, he was Director and Co-Principal Investigator of the Jackson Heart Study Coordinating Center (JHSCC), Director of Data Management, Quality Assurance, and Information Technology, and Senior Biostatistician of the JHSCC at Jackson State University.

Appointments

• General Internal Medicine

Other Departments & Organizations

• Internal Medicine
• Office of Health Equity Research

Education & Training

• Office of Health Equity Research Lab Whisk Cup Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com

Links & Media

Yale pathology joins office of health equity research in community listening session, center for brain and mind health first annual symposium, community collaboration to address health equity in new haven, new appointments & promotions within department of internal medicine.