The proposed training program adds predoctoral and postdoctoral training to the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP), which concentrates on both advancing research and training in biomedical and health informatics. CHIP is a truly interdisciplinary program co- created and co-sponsored by 1) School of Medicine, 2) Gillings School of Global Public Health, 3) School of Nursing, 4) Eshelman School of Pharmacy, 5) School of Dentistry, 6) School of Information & Library Science, and 7) Computer Science Department of the College of Arts & Sciences. The program is further strengthened by close partnerships with area health care organizations and companies specializing in biopharmaceuticals, heath care, IT and analytics. Recognizing the many challenges associated with health data analytics and use, the three foundational aspects of the CHIP training programs are: 1) Methods for health data analytics, 2) Building powerful interactive analytics systems that allow customization and support decision making for a wide variety of health care operations, and 3) Addressing translational challenges in implementing and managing information systems that leverage health data analytics effectively. Given that CHIP is a highly interdisciplinary program, it will draw upon its diverse faculty, research centers, laboratories, and other rich resources to develop three major types of activities as part of the proposed advanced predoctoral and postdoctoral training program. The three activities are: 1) Research methods and analytics techniques for clinical data science, imaging informatics, precision medicine, and big data analytics for population health, 2) Didactic learning based on courses in machine learning, biostatistics, big data management, and visual analytics and additional courses that are rooted in realistic health care problems, and 3) Large- scale, population-oriented system development, deployment, and outcome evaluation.
Improving human health by leveraging health data analytics demands that the critical problems and development of solutions are approached from a broad perspective, carefully taking into account evidence ranging from molecular-scale to population-scale and drawing upon knowledge from biostatistics, information science, and computing. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's CHIP program encompasses and leverages seven different academic units and it builds upon a five-year legacy to expand its offerings to train next generation health informatics researchers, academics, and leaders.
