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Academics: National Library of Medicine Fellowship: In-DepthOHSU offers a pre-doctoral and post-doctoral research training fellowship program in biomedical informatics. Support for the program comes from the National Library of Medicine and the Department of Veteran's Affairs. By providing a structured research experience, with the option of course work and/or pursuit of a degree, the program prepares fellows to enter the academic community and undertake programs of independent biomedical informatics research, or to take leadership positions in the growing number of hospital and/or commercial efforts in biomedical informatics. The Fellowship in Library Informatics is a one year, full time fellowship intended to augment the applicant's library and information science background with relevant applied informatics training. Informatics coursework in the DMICE and applied research opportunities in the Libraries in an IAIMS environment are provided. Fellowships are available to holders of a masters degree in library science with at least three years experience working in a health sciences library and evidence of an interest in applied informatics research. ResourcesFellows are provided with numerous specialized resources intended to foster their research. Each fellow is provided with primary office space in the BICC, and may have additional office space at other institutions where he or she is conducting research or taking courses (all classes within the department are made available to fellows, as well as courses in other departments and our consortium of nearby universities). Several conferences are available to fellows - the Division of General Internal Medicine at the neighboring Veterans Affairs Medical Center, for instance, has a bi-weekly didactic seminar in research methods, to which the division faculty and other training program faculty contribute. This conference helps to "round out" the fellows' education in research methods. The division also has a weekly research-in-progress seminar that uses the talents of faculty, senior staff, master's students and fellows. Once a week, the program director meets with all fellows and presents updates of current trends in informatics, tutorials on topics of interest, and training in areas of special concern such as the ethical conduct of research. Fellows are also encouraged to attend at least two national meetings where they are expected to present their own research and participate in the discussion of research by colleagues. Such meetings typically include the fall AMIA conference and the annual NLM training program meeting. ResearchThe principal activity of OHSU's fellows is learning the skills and responsibilities of research as apprentices to junior and senior faculty. The major portion of the time spent by the fellows is in the research laboratories of the BICC and its collaborating scientists. While fellows may launch their own research projects, every effort is made to have them connect with a faculty member's personal interests for optimal mentoring. Fellows are therefore encouraged to involve themselves with the ongoing faculty projects described here, or with projects related to their main research interests and that are sponsored by other faculty at OHSU. Evidence-Based Medicine and Health OutcomesDr. Helfand is the lead researcher in this area, supported by Drs. Nelson and Morris. Fellows are able to work within clinical domains, building cooperative outcomes data systems for gastrointestinal endoscopy, for example. Alternatively, fellows are able to work with Dr. Helfand to develop research methods and database construction methods. They also can work with Drs. Nelson and Morris, and the Oregon Health Policy Institute, under the direction of Dr. Greenlick, in various population-based outcomes research areas and health services research. Information RetrievalDr. William Hersh directs this line of inquiry. He is interested in end-user information searching and the World Wide Web, concept-based retrieval, and the use of advanced front-ends on search engines. He also is well connected with the UMLS project and conducts research relating to clinical vocabularies for information retrieval. Information needs of primary care practitionersDr. Gorman's research in this area is crucial to understand how to bridge the gap between the needs of practitioners and the availability of pertinent information for clinical decision-making. Dr. Gorman has been a consultant in the use of ethnographic methods, and collaborates with Drs. Ash and Hersh in the evaluation of information dissemination technologies. Clinical terminology and knowledge representationDr. Spackman, as chairman of the SNOMED Editorial Board, has direct contact with and access to the processes, tools, and research issues associated with clinical terminology and knowledge representation. Other Faculty Research AreasInformatics faculty work on a variety of research projects of their own as well as institutional projects. Other broad categories of research activity include clinical information systems and computer-based patient records, medical decision making, patient information systems, neural networks, bioinformatics, evidence-based medicine, and cost-effectiveness analysis. CourseworkAll biomedical informatics fellows are expected to spend two full years in the program. Library fellows spend one year. This time is spent yielding a high quality, major research project. Course work, although optional, can significantly contribute to each fellow's understanding of the field. It emphasizes fundamental competencies in informatics, and is drawn from the catalog of offerings of OHSU, Portland State University (PSU), Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology (OGI), and the Portland extension campuses of the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. OHSU coordinates its educational programs through the Oregon State System of Higher Education, and permits its faculty, staff and students to easily register at these other institutions. It is possible for graduate credit to be applied toward advanced degrees at OHSU (Master of Science in Medical Informatics, Master of Public Health), PSU (Master of Science in Computer Science, Doctor of Philosophy in Systems Science), or OGI (Master or Doctorate degrees in Computer Science). Formal education of the OHSU informatics fellows emphasizes three basic areas: basic computer science, medical informatics, and research methods. Postdoctoral fellows with limited background in health care also receive instruction in health and medicine. Whereas each fellow may select a program of study best suited to his or her needs, the "flavor" of the program emphasizes preparation for conducting research in an interdisciplinary environment. More information about the courses available through our department is available on the MS Program Curriculum pages - both for the Medical Informatics Track and the Bioinformatics Track. ApplyingApplication deadline is February 15, 2008. To apply for the Fellowship in Medical Informatics, download and complete the application (PDF - instructions are included). To apply for the Fellowship in Library Informatics, interested individuals should send a curriculum vitae by mail: Joan Ash, Ph.D., M.L.S. e-mail (ash@ohsu.edu), or fax (503.494.4551). OHSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.  |