Educational Initiatives

UPIBI supports informatics education and professional development through a wide range of programs, including academic courses, workshops, podcasts, and community initiatives. Below is a selection of ongoing offerings designed to advance biomedical data science knowledge across experience levels and disciplines.

Courses in Artificial Intelligence and Informatics

INFD 501: Foundations of AI in Biomedicine
Course Director: Ryan Ellis, PhD

This course introduces core concepts in artificial intelligence with emphasis on deductive reasoning, expert systems, logic-based modeling, and how these methods apply to biomedical challenges. Students gain foundational skills in structuring and interpreting data for knowledge discovery and predictive modeling.

INFD 502: Applied Machine Learning
Course Director: Li Shen, PhD

Focused on real-world biomedical applications, this course covers supervised and unsupervised learning, including regression, classification, clustering, and dimensionality reduction. Students use machine learning tools to analyze datasets such as imaging, EHRs, and molecular data. Topics vary yearly to reflect the latest research.

INFD 503: Biomedical Natural Language Processing
Course Director: Priya Desai, PhD

This hands-on course explores methods for extracting information from unstructured text sources such as clinical records and biomedical publications. Topics include syntactic and semantic analysis, text classification, and deep learning approaches for information retrieval and entity recognition.

Master of Biomedical Informatics

UPIBI’s Master of Biomedical Informatics (MBMI) program equips students with theoretical and practical skills in data science, informatics, and health systems research. Graduates will be able to apply computing, statistical, and organizational tools to solve complex biomedical and healthcare problems.

1. Apply technical and conceptual frameworks to solve informatics problems in healthcare and biomedical research.
2. Incorporate social, legal, behavioral, and cognitive perspectives into informatics project design.
3. Design data-driven solutions using computational and systems-based approaches.
4. Understand interdisciplinary collaboration in diverse clinical, academic, and technological environments.

Certificate in Biomedical Informatics

The Certificate in Biomedical Informatics is a four-course program aimed at clinicians, researchers, and healthcare professionals looking to gain a solid grounding in informatics. Topics include general informatics principles, clinical systems, and research data management. Certificate credits may be applied toward the MBMI program.

Biomedical Data Conversations Podcast

Hosted by UPIBI faculty, the Biomedical Data Conversations Podcast explores trends in informatics, new research, open-source tools, and interviews with thought leaders from the data science and healthcare fields.

Informatics Day

This annual event brings together students, staff, and faculty for a full day of talks, demos, and panels on current topics in informatics. Informatics Day 2024 will feature interactive virtual sessions and on-campus events.

Working Groups

Natural Language Processing Workgroup

Faculty Organizer: Priya Desai, PhD
This group meets monthly to discuss projects and challenges in biomedical NLP, providing a forum for sharing tools, research ideas, and collaborative opportunities.

Ontologies & Knowledge Modeling Workgroup

Faculty Organizer: Charles Stoeckert, PhD
A monthly gathering for those interested in biomedical ontologies and their application in clinical and research data systems.

Clinical Data Methods Workgroup

Faculty Organizer: Jinbo Chen, PhD
Focuses on statistical and computational challenges related to EHR data, including missingness, bias, and privacy-preserving analysis.

AI in Health Student Group

Faculty Organizer: Allison J. Carter, PhD
Student Organizer: Christy Hong
This student-led group explores how artificial intelligence can improve patient care. Projects include developing shared datasets and organizing educational events and competitions.

Bioinformatics Forum

Held monthly during the academic year, this forum features external guest speakers presenting on cutting-edge topics in bioinformatics. Contact Carlos Aquino to be added to the mailing list.

RADS Program (Research Advancement for Diversity Scholars)

The RADS program gives high school and undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds the opportunity to participate in mentored biomedical informatics research.

Workshops and Training Videos

UPIBI offers on-demand training videos and live workshops that introduce users to informatics tools, data platforms, and analysis methods. These resources are open to faculty, staff, and students affiliated with UPIBI.