Co-Directors
Elizabeth S. Chen, PhD, FACMI
Interim Director, Center for Biomedical Informatics
Associate Professor of Medical Science, Center for Biomedical Informatics
Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice
Email: liz_chen@brown.edu
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Indra Neil Sarkar, PhD, MLIS, ACHIP, FACMI, FAMIA
Associate Professor of Medical Science, Center for Biomedical Informatics
Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice
Email: neil_sarkar@brown.edu
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Coordinator
Benny Rodriguez
Administrative Coordinator, Center for Biomedical Informatics
Brown University
Email: benny_rodriguez@brown.edu
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Overview
Biomedical informatics is defined as “the interdisciplinary field that studies and pursues the effective uses of biomedical data, information, and knowledge for scientific inquiry, problem solving and decision making, motivated by efforts to improve human health.”
Health informatics and artificial intelligence (AI) are the applied methodological aspects of biomedical informatics, focused on the development and evaluation of approaches for generating, organizing, managing, analyzing, and sharing data to support clinical care, patient engagement, biomedical research, quality and safety, education, and public health. These approaches are often adapted from disciplines such as applied mathematics, biostatistics, computer science, library and information science, management science, and cognitive science.
Common areas of emphasis include (adapted from AMIA Science Informatics):
- Translational Bioinformatics – Development of techniques for transforming voluminous biomedical (especially genomic) data to support proactive, predictive, preventive, and participatory health
- Clinical Research Informatics – Development of approaches for enabling the discovery, management, and evaluation of new health knowledge
- Clinical Informatics – Development and application of techniques to improve health care delivery services, including the development, evaluation, and responsible deployment of predictive and generative AI models in health care; clinical informatics is a subspecialty of the American Board of Medical Specialties
- Consumer Health Informatics – Development of information structures and approaches for supporting patient-centric health care needs
- Public Health Informatics – Development of methodologies for supporting public health needs, including surveillance, prevention, preparedness, and health promotion
The goals of the Scholarly Concentration in Health Informatics and AI are to:
- Familiarize the scholar with core health informatics and AI principles through a guided review of foundational literature and topical discussions;
- Build practical judgment about when an AI approach is appropriate for a health problem and how to evaluate one credibly; and,
- Develop a health informatics or AI solution that addresses a specific biomedical or health care challenge in collaboration with experts.
As appropriate, scholars will be guided through the general process of preparing manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication and delivering presentations at national conferences.