Biomedical Informatics and Data Science Training at Yale

The Yale Biomedical Informatics and Data Science Training Program—directed by Profs. Cynthia Brandt and Mark Gerstein— with 33 core faculty from 12 departments and five schools, is based in the Yale Center for Medical Informatics (YCMI) and the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (CBB) Program at Yale. The program and faculty reflect the diversity and depth of Yale’s collaborative Biomedical Informatics research environment. We continue our training focus on the following informatics and data science areas: 1) health care/clinical informatics, 2) translational bioinformatics, and 3) clinical research informatics. This renewal features key enhancements to our training program including (1) an updated curriculum based on the evaluation and feedback of trainees and faculty, with many new data science, computer science, and informatics courses; (2) faculty leadership and integration with university science initiatives such as a new Institute of Data Science with an associated Center for Biomedical Data Science (CBDS) and a new Master of Science in Health Informatics, all of which have resulted in hiring many additional faculty and provided opportunities for research collaborations. Predoctoral training is carried out primarily in Yale’s interdepartmental PhD program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (CBB). This program was inaugurated in 2002 and has graduated over 56 PhDs many of whom are now leaders in their respective fields. Postdoctoral fellows with a doctoral degree in the health professions or in an area of science other than informatics will enroll in one of three research-oriented graduate programs: CBB (study for an MS or PhD), the Clinical Informatics track in the Master of Health Science (MHS) degree, and the MS in Health Informatics at the Yale School of Public Health. Postdoctoral trainees who already have a doctoral degree in informatics or a closely related field, may not require additional training in informatics or data science. The focus of our postdoctoral training involves defining one or two research projects which can be carried out independently (under faculty supervision) and that will result in publications and grant applications. The overall goal of our program is to provide all trainees with the necessary background and experience to pursue productive academic and research careers in Biomedical Informatics and Data Science. Each year the number and quality of applicants to our programs have grown and we actively work to increase recruitment and retention of the most meritorious Pre and Postdoc trainees. We are requesting support for 9 predoctoral trainees and 8 postdoctoral trainees. We have a core group of faculty who are well-funded, highly skilled and experienced as mentors and educators. The Biomedical Informatics and Data Science activities at Yale provide many opportunities for trainees to work on interdisciplinary projects that use large biomedical data sets and tackle key research questions.