Medical Informatics Master’s Degree Information Sessions Jan. 19 and 25

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For those interested in learning more about the RIT and University of Rochester joint master’s degree in medical informatics, information sessions will be held 6–7 p.m. Jan. 19 in the Golisano Hall auditorium at RIT and 6–7 p.m. Jan. 25 in University of Rochester Medical Center, K-307 room 3-6408.

For those who can bridge the gap between clinical work and information technology, the prospective job market looks encouraging. The American Medical Informatics Association projects a need for more than 50,000 new health informatics workers in the next five to seven years.

To meet this need, Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester are leveraging their strengths in technology and health care to offer a joint master’s degree in medical informatics. The 14-course degree program produces professionals who can help acquire, manage and use new technologies such as electronic health records and computerized decision support to improve health care.

Information sessions for those interested in learning more about the program will be held 6–7 p.m. Jan. 19 in the Golisano Hall auditorium at RIT and 6–7 p.m. Jan. 25 in University of Rochester Medical Center, K-307 room 3-6408.

“With the tremendous new emphasis on electronic health records, there is an unprecedented need for highly trained individuals to design, build, implement and manage these systems,” says Dr. David Krusch, a practicing surgeon, director of the Division of Medical Informatics and chief medical information officer at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “By weaving together the clinical and technical, our program offers students a unique training environment.”

As part of the joint degree, students will gain a robust knowledge of medical practice by shadowing physicians, attending lectures on advances in medicine and completing class projects that showcase the students’ abilities to creatively use technology to improve the practice of medicine.

“Students will obtain in-depth experience in both information technology and the practice of health care,” says Ronald Vullo, RIT associate professor and associate director of medical informatics. “It is the ability to understand and work in these two diverse and complex fields that makes medical informatics unique, necessary and much sought after.”

Students matriculate at either RIT’s B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences or the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and take courses at both campuses. Students graduate from the institution at which they matriculated but will receive a common diploma bearing the seals of RIT and the University of Rochester.

Applications are being accepted for fall 2012 consideration. Scholarships are available.