REU Site: Program for Access to Training in Health Informatics (PATHI)

Health informatics is dynamic and fast-growing, but few undergraduate students know about career paths available in the field. The Program for Access to Training in Health Informatics (PATHI), an REU site at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, seeks to address this gap by providing meaningful health informatics research experiences to undergraduate students. The project will train 10 undergraduate students in health informatics research in a 10-week program each summer. With guidance from faculty mentors, students will learn how to conduct innovative research at the intersection of computer science, basic science, social science, engineering, and health. These projects span a wide range of topics, from developing new computer programs to analyze highly complex medical and genetic data to evaluating the usability of health apps on phones. Students will also build professional skills to prepare for next steps in their education and the confidence to move forward in their careers as scientists. The REU Program for Access to Training in Health Informatics (REU-PATHI) Site will engage undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds in meaningful scientific research projects at the nexus of computational science, basic science, engineering, social science, and health. The program will also prepare them to become the next generation of researchers identifying, designing, developing, deploying, and studying innovative technology-based solutions for important health-related problems. Students will participate in research, mentoring, dissemination, and professional development. They will work directly with a faculty mentor and their research group on projects grouped into three focus areas: computationally-intensive topics, precision health, and human-technology interaction. The program will also provide opportunities for REU students to disseminate their research to peers, graduate students, faculty, and the field and will encourage students to submit their work to professional conferences and scientific journals. Connections between the REU-PATHI program and a high school internship program will inspire high school students considering STEM educational pathways. REU student projects also have the potential to contribute to improving individual and population health. The program will be rigorously evaluated to understand impact on students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.