Health Informatics MSHI

Major: Health Informatics
Degree Awarded: Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 45.0
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 51.2706
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 15-1111

About the Program

The Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI) at the College of Computing & Informatics prepares graduates to use data, information and knowledge for scientific inquiry and problem solving to improve health outcomes. The program addresses the challenges and opportunities encountered as healthcare transforms itself into a digital, patient-centered system. The inter-disciplinary nature of the MSHI program brings clinicians and IT professionals together to analyze problems and develop solutions through the application of advanced information technology.

Students in this program complete their required courses in the College of Computing & Informatics and choose from a group of approved electives drawn from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, the Dornsife School of Public Health and the LeBow College of Business. All courses are delivered online and students are encouraged to enroll in approved experiential learning programs. Under the guidance of skilled faculty, students engage in a variety of learning activities, develop their organizational leadership skills and develop an appreciation of the varied perspectives in today’s healthcare world.

The MS in Health Informatics enables IT professionals who want to expand their knowledge and skills into healthcare, whether in patient care organizations such as hospitals and clinics, or the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. The flexibility of this program is ideal for clinicians who wish to acquire technical skills to advance their careers in today’s competitive health care environment.

Drexel's MSHI degree program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). Drexel University's educational programs are accredited by MSCHE (Middle States Commission on Higher Education). 

Admission Requirements

The Master of Science in Health Informatics accepts applicants who hold a Bachelor's degree from an accredited university. Please visit the College of Computing & Informatics website for more information on admission requirements.

Additional Information

For more information about this program, visit the College of Computing & Informatics MS in Health Informatics web page.

Degree Requirements

The curriculum is based around contemporary health issues and has been designed to help students understand the current landscape of health informatics and how information, technology and people relate and intersect in healthcare environments. Because health informatics is an interdisciplinary field, all students will complete a common core from the College of Computing & Informatics before choosing from a suite of specialized electives offered by the College of Computing & Informatics or other Colleges at Drexel University.

*

INFO 896 is a capstone project students must take before graduation.  It is advised to send a statement of intent to the program director when they have finished at least half of the courses in the program and plan to take the capstone project within the last two quarters before graduation.

Sample Plan of Study

Note: Second Year Summer is less than the 4.5-credit minimum required (considered half-time status) of graduate programs to be considered financial aid eligible. As a result, aid will not be disbursed to students this term.

Dual Degree Opportunities

Graduate students already enrolled in a master's degree program at Drexel have the opportunity, through the dual master's program, to work simultaneously on two CCI master's degrees and to receive both upon graduation. To be eligible, graduate students must be currently working on their first CCI master's degree when requesting admission to the second CCI master's degree. They must obtain approval from the graduate advisors of both programs and work out a plan of study encompassing coursework and/or research (thesis) credits for both degrees. Please contact your advisor for more information on program requirements as some CCI master's degree combinations may require additional pre-requisites.

The dual master's student must complete the Change of Curriculum and Status form and obtain approvals from both graduate advisors. Final approval is granted by the Graduate College. The student is then registered in both majors simultaneously. Upon graduation, the student must file two Application for Degree forms.

Evaluations

The College of Computing & Informatics works continually to improve its degree programs. As part of this effort, the Health Informatics degree is evaluated relative to the following Learning Objectives:

Specific learning outcomes for program graduates include the following:

• Articulate the ways in which data, information, and knowledge are used to solve health problems from the individual to the population level.
• Apply theories, methods, and processes for the generation, storage, retrieval, use, management, and sharing of healthcare data, information, and knowledge. 
• Apply, adapt, and validate informatics concepts and approaches as they relate to specific biomedical and healthcare problems. 
• Select relevant concepts and techniques from the social sciences to solve problems in health informatics.
• Work collaboratively across disciplines to define, discuss, and resolve health problems.
• Analyze the ethical and policy issues related to biomedical and healthcare informatics.

Facilities

3675 Market Street

The College of Computing & Informatics is located at 3675 Market. Occupying three floors in the modern uCity Square building, CCI's home offers state-of-the-art technology in our classrooms, research labs, offices, meeting areas and collaboration spaces. 3675 Market offers Class A laboratory, office, coworking, and convening spaces. Located at the intersection of Market Street and 37th Street, 3675 Market acts as a physical nexus, bridging academic campuses and medical centers to the east and south, the commercial corridors along Market Street and Chestnut Street, and the residential communities to the north and west.

The uCity Square building offers:

• Speculative lab/office space
• World-class facilities operated by CIC
• Café/restaurant on-site
• Quorum, a two-story, 15K SF convening space and conference center
• Adjacent to future public square
• Access to Science Center’s nationally renowned business acceleration and technology commercialization programs

Drexel University Libraries

Drexel University Libraries is a learning enterprise, advancing the University’s academic mission through serving as educators, supporting education and research, collaborating with researchers, and fostering intentional learning outside of the classroom. Drexel University Libraries engages with Drexel communities through three physical locations, including W. W. Hagerty Library, Queen Lane Library, and the Library Learning Terrace, as well as a vibrant online presence which sees, on average, over 8,000 visits per day. In the W.W. Hagerty Library location, College of Computing & Informatics students have access to private study rooms and nearly half a million books, periodicals, DVDs, videos and University Archives. All fields of inquiry are covered, including: library and information science, computer science, software engineering, health informatics, information systems, and computing technology. Resources are available online at library.drexel.edu or in-person at W. W. Hagerty Library.

The Libraries also make available laptop and desktop PC and Mac computers, printers and scanners, spaces for quiet work or group projects and designated 24/7 spaces. Librarians and library staff—including a liaison librarian for computing and informatics—are available for individual research consultations and to answer questions about materials or services.

CCI Commons

Located on the 10th floor of 3675 Market Street, the CCI Commons is an open lab and collaborative work environment for students. It features desktop computers, a wireless/laptop area, free black and white printing, and more collaborative space for its students. Students have access to 3675 Market's fully equipped conference room with 42” displays and videoconferencing capabilities. The CCI Commons provides technical support to students, faculty, and professional staff. In addition, the staff provides audio-visual support for all presentation classrooms within 3675 Market. Use of the CCI Commons is reserved for all students taking CCI courses.

The computers for general use are Microsoft Windows and Macintosh OSX machines with appropriate applications which include the Microsoft Office suite, various database management systems, modeling tools, and statistical analysis software. Library-related resources may be accessed at the CCI Commons and through the W.W. Hagerty Library. The College is a member of the "Azure Dev Tools for Teaching” platform that allows students free access to a wide array of Microsoft software titles and operating systems.

The CCI Commons, student labs, and classrooms have access to networked databases, print and file resources within the College, and the Internet via the University’s network. Email accounts, Internet and BannerWeb access are available through the Office of Information Resources and Technology.

CCI Learning Center

The CCI Learning Center (CLC), located in 3675 Market Street's CCI Commons student computer lab, provides consulting and other learning resources for students taking courses offered by the Computer Science Department. The CLC is staffed by graduate and undergraduate computer science students from the College of Computing & Informatics.

The CLC and CCI Commons serve as a central hub for small group work, student meetings, and TA assistance. 

Research Laboratories

The College houses multiple research labs, led by CCI faculty, in 3675 Market Street including: the Metadata Research Center (MRC), Interactive Systems for Healthcare (IS4H) Research, Economics and Computation (EconCS), The TeX-Base Lab, SPiking And Recurrent SoftwarE (SPARSE) Coding, Human-System Evaluation and Analysis Lab (H-SEAL), Applied Symbolic Computation Laboratory (ASYM), Software Engineering Research Group (SERG), Social Computing Research Group, Vision and Cognition Laboratory (VisCog) and the Vision and Graphics Laboratory. For more information on these laboratories, please visit the College’s research web page.