Vanderbilt Biomedical Informatics Training Program

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Vanderbilt University proposes a five-year renewal of its Biomedical Informatics Training Program. Begun in 2001, the program offers MS and PhD degrees in Biomedical Informatics, as well as nondegree postdoctoral and short-term training experiences. The program has experienced steady growth in high quality applicants and currently has more than 20 trainees, including 16 predoctoral and postdoctoral students funded by our NLM training grant, now in its fourth year. The Training Program's administrative home, the Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI), has likewise grown - infaculty, resources, andproductivity - to become widely regarded as among the top informatics programs nationally. The informatics-rich environments of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System provide provide "hands on" training experiences that are exemplary. The MS and PhD degree programs include a core curriculum of courses in biomedical informatics and the foundation disciplines of computer science, biomedicine, and research methodology. Degree-seeking students pursue concentrated study in one of several application domains, including clinical informatics and bioinformatics, and the emerging areas of clinical research and translational informatics and organizational informatics now under development. We continue to offer research-intensive nondegree postdoctoral fellowships. For the period 2007-2012, Vanderbilt requests a total of 16 full-time training positions (10 predoctoral and 6 postdoctoral) and 4 short- term training positions per year. Through the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, we will continue to recruit Meharry students, graduates, and residents who seek training in biomedical informatics and expand recruitment efforts to underrepresented minorities from other institutions. Since its inception in 1991, the Vanderbilt Biomedical Informatics initiative has had one, key unifying idea: the best research and the best innovation arise from a deep understanding of the problems being addressed, and a commitment to creating tools and systems that serve real-world needs. Application and evaluation of these informatics innovations results in scalable tools that address today's most urgent challenges in healthcare delivery, biomedical research, and health professions education. Vanderbilt biomedical informatics graduates will become the next generation of scholars and innovators, leading the charge against these and other challenges not yet imagined.