This month the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School welcomed the next cohort of students in the Master of Biomedical Informatics (MBI) program.

The program enrolled seven traditional MBI students. These students are joining the program from top undergraduate institutions and have a broad range of educational backgrounds, including applied mathematics, bioinformatics, biology, computer science, economics, electronics engineering, and molecular biology. They are scheduled to graduate within three semesters.

An additional twelve postdoctoral students, including two Fulbright Fellows, enrolled in the accelerated MBI program, designed to be completed in one year (or two years for part-time students). Most of these students hold medical doctorates and are actively involved in clinical research and service. But our cohort also includes students with doctorates and master’s degrees in other fields, such as business administration, dental medicine, and public health.

The 19 incoming students are looking forward to coursework in precision medicine, data science, computational biology, and clinical informatics, providing numerous opportunities to learn about cutting-edge translational biomedical informatics. Students complement these courses with electives from the university-wide course catalog, including courses at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), Harvard Business School (HBS), and the Harvard John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

A capstone project conducted under the supervision of Harvard faculty will allow the students to apply their expertise and deepen their knowledge in their area of interest.

The Master of Biomedical Informatics is one of three Master’s programs that are part of the university-wide Harvard Data Science Initiative. The other programs are the Master of Science (SM) in Health Data Science at HSPH and the Master of Science (SM) in Data Science at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).

Applications for the Fall of 2019 will be due in early December 2018. Details and announcements about the Master’s program can be found on https://informaticstraining.hms.harvard.edu.