Curriculum: MS and PhD Requirements

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The required BHI core coursework reflects the importance and interaction of our practice domains ranging from human biology to clinical medicine and consumer health to public health. MS and PhD students complete the same core course requirements. Students complement their core coursework with additional courses in statistics and advanced research methods, as well as electives drawn from other UW academic units. Departmental seminars are also offered that present new and integrative research in the field.

Please see the MS coursework requirements and PhD coursework requirements for full details. Below is a more informal listing of the classes, including some example electives:

BHI Program Core Coursework Requirements

All courses listed below are to be numerically graded, and the student must pass all these with individual grades of at least 2.7. Courses count for 4-5 credits and are offered once each year (credits and quarters in parentheses).

• BIME 533   Public Health and Clinical Informatics (4 credits, Spring)
• BIME 534   Informatics for Biology and Translational Science (5 credits, Autumn)
• BIME 537   Informatics Research and Evaluation Methods (4 credits, Winter)
• BIME 543   Consumer and Clinical Informatics (4 credits, Autumn)
• BIME 552  AI and LLMs for Biomedical Applications (5 credits, Winter)
• BIME 554   Biomedical Information Interactions and Design (4 credits, Spring)

See our course description page for more detailed information about each course. The above six courses are required for all MS and PhD students. (In addition, all postdoctoral fellows must take four of the BIME courses; please see postdoc coursework requirements.) BHI core courses may be completed during one’s first year, as shown in the table below. Each course is offered only once a year in the quarters indicated. MS Students are not required to take all of the BHI core courses during their first year, but instead, may take core courses with more flexibility in order to incorporate electives, rotations, and research.

Seminars

Research Seminars

In addition to the numerically graded courses listed above, all students must complete six (MS) or twelve (PhD) BHI research seminar credits. Please see the MS coursework requirements and PhD coursework requirements for details about these research seminars.

BHI Research Seminars

• BIME 590   Selected Topics in Biomedical and Health Informatics (1 credit, Autumn, Winter, Spring)
• BIME 591   Biomedical and Health Informatics Research Colloquium (1 credit, Autumn, Winter, and/or Spring)

Professionalism and Communication Seminars

All PhD and MS students must take a series of 1-credit seminars on Professionalism and Communication. Each seminar is 1 credit and should be taken in Autumn, Winter and Spring quarters of their first year.

• BIME 585  Professionalism and Communication in Biomedical Informatics (1 credit, Autumn)
• BIME 586  Professionalism and Communication in Biomedical Informatics (1 credit, Winter)
• BIME 587  Professionalism and Communication in Biomedical Informatics (1 credit, Spring)

Research Requirements

In addition to coursework, all BHI graduate students are expected to carry out research activity throughout their entire MS or PhD studies, beginning during their first quarter. The activities can include work with their assigned academic advisor, a research rotation advisor, an RA supervisor, or similar approved activities (e.g., approved external internships, or approved Curricular Practical Training).

When appropriate, students register for BIME 600 credits for this research activity; during the first year the workload is often only 1-2 credits per quarter, but we expect students to increase their research efforts in later years (up to 10 credits/quarter).

Electives

Graduate students must also take a number of electives to reach the required number of credits to graduate (60 credits for MS, 90 credits for PhD). The electives below are just examples. Some students also utilize their elective credits to earn a Data Science specialization. Students with a strong academic computer science background can choose to utilize their electives to earn an Advanced Data Science specialization.

Example electives outside BHI: