The Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology (DMICE) of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has been awarded a new R25 grant to fund its Biomedical Informatics and Data Science College Undergraduate Summer Internship Program for another five years. The grant is among 12 awards issued by the National Library of Medicine to prepare historically underrepresented students for biomedical informatics and data science graduate studies and research careers.
The goal of the DMICE program is to provide a rich, full-time experience to students to graduate study and careers in biomedical informatics and data science. In addition, the program aims to motivate students to pursue doctoral training in biomedical informatics and data science that leads to research careers in academia, government, healthcare, and industry. The funding from the R25 grant will be used to support summer experiences for students with backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented in biomedical informatics and data science. With assistance and coordination from the Portland State University BUILD EXITO Program, the grant will support nine students per summer in an experience that includes:
- Knowledge of the motivations, activities, and challenges for the biomedical informatics and data science field
- Skills development in data science through the use of data sets and standard tools
- Participation in a faculty-led research project
- A student-led and faculty-facilitated health data ethics and equity seminar
- Scientific, career, and near-peer mentoring
The Principal Investigator (PI) of the R25 grant is William Hersh, MD, and summer interns will work under the mentorship of faculty and students from the OHSU Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program.