UB's Academic Menu to Include Advanced Certification in New Field of Medical/Health Informatics

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo School of Informatics this fall will offer a new post-graduate program that will award an advanced certificate in medical/health informatics.

The 20 credit-hour program is aimed at UB students and medical professionals in the community. It will offer an intensive introduction to the evolving field of medical and health-related informatics, which uses technology tools and organizing principles from the fields of communication and library studies in the organization and provision of health care.

Peter Winkelstein, M.D. '90, associate professor of clinical pediatrics in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, developed the program with Gary D. Byrd, Ph.D., director of the university's Health Sciences Library. Both are adjunct professors in the School of Informatics.

Winkelstein says the new program "is designed for students who have completed graduate or undergraduate training in a field linked to informatics, and for professionals who have completed or are completing medical or other health-care training.

"Students who complete this program," he says, "will be prepared to work in information-related positions in health care, health-sciences research or education and will have the ability to evaluate, manage and develop a wide range of informatics projects."

The required 20 credit hours of course work will include six credits worth of electives. Faculty will be drawn from a number of schools and academic departments, including UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Department of Philosophy in the UB College of Arts and Sciences.

For information, contact Annette Burdett at 645-2141, ext. 1186 or aburdett@buffalo.edu. Application requirements are posted at http://informatics.buffalo.edu/admissions/adv/advinfomed.asp.