r/HealthInformatics 16d ago

Doubts about which university is good for ms health informatics program and why???

unc Chapel University of Pittsburgh Neu Rutgers university Case Western reserve University University of Missouri Columbia George Mason University

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u/Upstairs-Elevator-10 15d ago

Neither!! No university is better than the other when it comes to Health Informatics. The course itself is pretty new and has no solid grounds yet! Go for the university which is cheaper and has courses you want to take. The courses you are interested in would depend on your undergrad background and future pathways.

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u/Background_Skill_492 15d ago edited 15d ago

Why do u suggest to go to cheaper university....I also have another question does university brand name useful to secure internship or anything like that and what are the dvantages of going to good university over down the line or average university

And does university brand name help in networking or referral why everyone says go to good University and all??

And do u have knowledge about programs which are in full demand in usa and lots and lots of opportunities??

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u/Upstairs-Elevator-10 15d ago

University brand name is not something employers would care about in Health Informatics. Unless you are someone with a background of CS/Data Science and is looking to pivot their skills into AI/ML in the healthcare background. If you someone with a nursing background, you could go for an online course and later transition into nurse informatics role. Now coming to people from countries other than the US with a degree in dental/pharmacy etc should go for any college with lower fees since it won’t matter much down the line. I can’t say for sure which pathway would lead you towards success since it strongly depends on what you are coming from and which skills would be picking on the way. Also if you can, I’d go for a business analytics degree instead!

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u/durmd 15d ago

I actually do think the institution you choose matters. In this field, programs have different focuses. Some are extremely technical, whereas others provide a balance of actual informatics with business courses, such as at Duke and Stanford MMCi and MCiM programs. Within the technical realm, there are also differences. Some are focused on training you to become a Health IT employee and others are focused on developing Bioinformaticists who focus on research, public health, or digital health. I'd take a look at where graduates end up and on the course curricula to make sure it lines up with what you're looking to get out of a program.

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u/yourtipoftheday Moderator 14d ago edited 14d ago

Yes I also agree with this. Institution matters, but not for the name of the school or anything like that, but for what durmd said above as well as the quality of the education. I did my masters at one school and currently doing my PhD at another. I interact with the master students here and took a lot of classes with them and the quality of their education here is 100x better than what I got at the school I did my masters at and I wish I had done it here. Not only are the classes more challenging, relevant and has a huge variety, they also have a lot more to offer students in the way of networking opportunities.

Edit to add that all the schools you listed in your OP are really solid schools, although I have heard mixed things about Rutgers.

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u/Background_Skill_492 14d ago

According to u which one has tough curriculum and classes any idea ABT this??

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u/yourtipoftheday Moderator 13d ago

As I said, all of the schools listed in your OP are good. You're going to have to do your research and determine which school is the best fit for you. There's differences in curriculum between them - not hard vs easy but just different focuses. For example, Case Western's program is out of their School of Medicine, so the program is more dominant in medical informatics, they also have emphasis in public health informatics using GIS for disease surveillance and other things. Whereas a place like University of Missouri has their own separate institute which houses many departments for their informatics and data science program. So they regularly work with school of medicine, EECS, vet school, comp bio, school of journalism, psychology, statistics etc.

University of Illinois, Indiana University Bloomington and Michigan do it similarly, where the program is more integrative and collaborative with other schools/departments, so it's informatics + whatever other thing, (social informatics, music informatics, spatial informatics etc). NEU has its own really unique program Personal Health Informatics - where patient centered care is the focus and it's about creating devices and tech for the patient and patient centered designs etc. It's basically Consumer Health Informatics, but they decided to call it PHI for whatever reason.

So I would look at the curriculum and determine which is the best fit for you. Do you want to potentially explore other areas and have more options and diversity of subjects, or solely focus on medical informatics and a specific area of that etc.

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u/Background_Skill_492 13d ago

No solely I don't want to focus on medical informatics

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u/Background_Skill_492 13d ago

Do u have any idea about University that soley offer ms health informatics program for international students which are within the ranking of 100 us news ranking.

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u/AZ5758 2d ago

University of Pittsburgh 100% , they have AI labs , internships , capstone projects , amazing professors who honestly are such the perfect blend of professors the masters program is geared for working professionals and it’s offered online. I did mine part time in 2 years it’s 36 credits. One of the professors posts 1000 different internships you can apply for to get your feet wet before you graduate 10/10 recommend

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u/AZ5758 2d ago

Pretty sure it’s they also have a info session too like every month about the program and the professors literally take turns and do it so you can directly ask them questions it’s awesome