Department of Health Informatics

All students complete at least 36 credits hours of which at least 30 hours must be formal course work. This includes:

1. 18 credit hours of core courses,
2. Six credit hours in an area of emphasis/ specialization,
3. Six credit hours of electives, and
4. Six credit hours of directed thesis or project.

In addition to core courses, electives and directed research projects, the student can pursue an in-depth study in one of the following tracks:

• Clinical Informatics
• Consumer/Patient Care Informatics
• Bioinformatics
• Hospital/Healthcare Information Management

Students successfully completing the program will be granted the Master of Science degree in Biomedical Informatics.

Fulltime students may complete the Program in 18 months, but will usually require two years. Part-time students may take three to five years to complete the Program.

Admissions:
Program Entrance Requirements for MS:
Applicant for admission to the Graduate Programs in Biomedical Informatics must hold a bachelors degree from an accredited institution in the US or its equivalent with a major in any field of health sciences (including medicine, dentistry, allied health, nursing, public health, pharmacy), or biological sciences, computer science, engineering or an equivalent field of study. A student seeking admission to any of the Graduate Programs must satisfy all entrance requirements of UMDNJ-SHRP.

These requirements include:

• Completed applications form with the SHRP’s application fee.
• Three (3) letters of recommendation. Professors and/or individuals directly responsible for supervising the applicant, attesting to the candidate’s potential success in the program, should write these letters.
• Official transcripts(s) of previous collegiate work or last earned degrees.
• GRE scores.
• Personal statement describing interest and commitment to the program.
• Evidence of basic proficiency in any programming language, database concepts and elementary calculus

GRE Exemption: Applicants already holding a doctoral (e.g., Ph.D., MD, DDS) degree in an appropriate discipline from an accredited institution in the USA, or UMDNJ’s medical, or dental students are exempted from the GRE requirement. Students applying for admission to the Health Care Informatics Certificate Program are also exempted from the GRE requirement.

International Students and TOEFL: In addition to the requirements stated above international students are required to provide evidence of English language proficiency by submitting Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) examination scores. Applicants with scores below 550 or CBT equivalent are not considered for admission.

Advisement: Each entering student is assigned a faculty advisor who assists the student in initial course selection appropriate to the career goals of the student, election of a project advisor and an advisory on project.

Program retention: Retention in the graduate programs is based on the following criteria:

• maintenance of GPA at 3.0 or better;
• obtain no more than one course failure for the duration of the program;
• retake a failed course only once and attain a C or better grade;
• and adherence to the policies of the UMDNJ, the SHRP and affiliating
  institutions and health care agencies.