Bridge to Health Informatics
June 9 - July 11, 2025
The Office of Online Education and Expanded Program offers a 5-week summer program built to expose motivated undergraduate juniors and seniors and post-baccalaureates to the health informatics field. The program structure is built on an integrated curriculum introducing career readiness tools, clinical decision support, data analytics and management, and telemedicine. Participants who successfully complete this 5-week summer program will receive a stipend and the opportunity to apply for admission into the Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI) degree program, along with a scholarship.
The online MSHI degree provides a foundation in business concepts needed to advance health information technologies (health IT). The goal of the MSHI online program is to develop comprehensive knowledge in the methodologies to acquire, store, retrieve, and use health information in medicine to support healthcare and research enterprises. MSHI will teach students to lead the creation and advancement of health equity in health informatics.
Why
Health informatics uses IT to organize and analyze health records to improve healthcare outcomes. This discipline has been around for 30+ years, but the rate of growth of this market increased largely due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which was signed into law in 2009. This law includes the Health Information and Technology for Economic Clinical Health Act (HITECH). HITECH formulated the Meaningful Use (MU) program under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Minimum Academic Requirements:
- Applicants must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited undergraduate institution or currently be an undergraduate junior or senior.
- Record of superior academic achievement in undergraduate studies
- Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.8
- Highly recommended to have taken a research or statistics course
To apply, students must complete an online application that includes uploading:
- Resume or curriculum vitae.
- A professional headshot
- Two recommendation forms.
- Unofficial Transcript(s)- Official transcripts must be submitted when applying for the Master of Science in Health Informatics . Please send Official Transcripts to msmonline@msm.edu
- If you have collegiate coursework outside of the United States, upload an unofficial copy of the course-by-course evaluation. Please do not upload unofficial copies of transcripts outside of the United States without the evaluation.
- Completed essay (no more than 1 page) explaining why you are interested in the “Bridge to Health Informatics" and why you would benefit from this program.
- Unofficial Transcripts- Send to MSMONLINE@MSM.EDU. (Note: If pursuing an M.S. degree, Official Transcripts are highly recommended)
Bridges to Health Informatics Curriculum
- Orientation
- Health Informatics Overview
- Introduction to Health Informatics
- US Healthcare Systems
- Consumer Digital Health
- Public Policy & Health Informatics
- Legal, Ethical, & Social Issues
- Evidence Based Decision Making
- Telemedicine
- Big Data Management and Analytics
- Project Management
- Career Readiness/Resume Writing
- Public Health Informatics
- Culminating Project “Health Informatics”
Program Benefits
Students selected to attend the Bridges to Health Informatics Pipeline will receive:
- Guaranteed interview opportunity for the 14-month Online Master of Science in Health Informatics.
- $500 stipend after completion of the summer program
- Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification
- Making Medicines: The Process of Drug Development Cerification
- Career Preparation
- Network with Health Informatics Experts for valuable insights
Program Requirements
To maintain eligibility in the program, students must:
- Miss no more than two sessions
- Complete graded weekly assignments
- Complete research project
- Complete pre and post surveys
Dates
- June 9 - July 11, 2025
- Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Please note: This program will be virtual with several synchronous sessions, so students will be expected to be engaged daily from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. with an hour lunch break.
Contact
Mr. Eric Thompson for information!
ethompson@msm.edu
404-752-1059
Early Decision Deadline is March 10, 2025
Application Deadline is Friday May 12, 2025