Program Overview

Public Health Informatics Certificate Program

Overview

The Public Health Informatics (PHI) Certificate Program is designed to offer grounding in methods and concepts of health informatics and health information technology for application to public health and population health. It is intended for current and future public health professionals who wish to develop PHI expertise or specialization to work in policy or management.

Educational Objectives

After completion of the certificate program, students will be able to:

• Articulate strategic direction for public health informatics within an organization
• Match data standards to their proper use
• Identify knowledge, information, and data needs of a project or program users and stakeholders
• Describe information system development, procurement, and implementation that meets public health program needs
• Evaluate information systems and applications
• Recognize use of informatics to integrate clinical health, environmental risk, and population health
• Implement solutions that assure confidentiality, security, and integrity while maximizing availability of information for public health

Admissions

Students should refer to the certificate program page on the Bloomberg School of Public Health website for full information about the certificate admissions process, requirements, and deadlines, as well as contact information for the program.

Sponsoring Department

The sponsoring department for this program is Health Policy and Management.

Requirements for Successful Completion

The certificate program requires a minimum of 18 term credits. All required and elective courses must be taken for a letter grade, and a 2.75 or better overall GPA for all certificate courses is required. The certificate program length is flexible, varying from student to student; however, the certificate must be completed within three years.

Course of Study

Students should check the BSPH course directory to confirm when the courses are offered. They should also check for prerequisites and whether instructor consent is required.

Required Courses

• PH.550.860: Academic & Research Ethics at BSPH (All students are required to complete this noncredit course in their first term of study)
• PH.309.631: Population Health Informatics
• Either PH.312.633: Health Management Information Systems or ME.250.953: Introduction to Biomedical Informatics

Elective Options

Students must choose courses from at least two different domains. The domains and courses include:

Domain 1: Standards/Interoperability

• PH.390.677: Database Design and Implementation in Clinical Research
• ME.250.755: Natural Language Processing in the Health Sciences
• ME.250.750: Design Discovery for Healthcare
• ME.250.778: Implementing Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources

Domain 2: Project Management/Data Management

• ME.250.957: Database Querying in Health
• PH.140.630: Introduction to Data Management
• PH.312.604: Quantitative Tools for Managers
• PH.340.633: Data Management in Clinical Trials

Domain 3: Information Systems

• PH.221.637: Health Information Systems
• ME.250.756: Informatics and the Clinical Research Lifecycle: Tools, Techniques and Processes
• ME.250.782: Observational Health Research Methods on Medical Records
• ME.250.783: Imaging Informatics and Deep Learning
• PH.340.770: Public Health Surveillance

Domain 4: Communications

• ME.250.952: Leading Change Through Health IT
• ME.250.784: Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Application Interoperability
• PH.410.733: Communication Network Analysis in Public Health Programs

Domain 5: Design/Implementation/Evaluation/Policy

• ME.250.901: HSI: Knowledge Engineering and Decision Support
• PH.330.606: Digital and Mobile Health Research in Public Mental Health
• ME.250.962: Prototyping for Healthcare Design
• PH.223.621: Design and Implementation of Global Digital Health interventions
• PH.223.622: Design and Implementation of Global Digital Health Interventions II
• ME.250.959: Digital Health Laws and Regulations
• ME.250.960: The Role of Digital Health and the Health Care Delivery System

Domain 6: Analysis, Visualization, and Reporting

• PH.309.635: Population Health: Analytic Methods and Visualization Techniques
• ME.250.770: Clinical Data Analysis with Python
• ME.250.771: Introduction to Precision Medicine Data Analysis
• ME.250.777: Clinical Decision Analysis
• ME.250.961: Large Scale Observational Research Preparation
• ME.250.788: Observational Research Methods in R

Domain 7: GIS

• Note: No more than 2 of the GIS courses count towards electives.
• PH.340.696: Spatial Analysis I: ArcGIS
• PH.340.697: Spatial Analysis II: Spatial Data Technologies
• PH.340.701: Epidemiologic Applications of Gis

Domain 8: Policy

• ME.250.959: Digital Health Laws and Regulations
• ME.250.960: The Role of Digital Health and the Health Care Delivery System
• PH.309.632: Informatics Across the Healthcare Spectrum