Developing Graduate Certificate and Dual Degree Programs in Public Health Informatics: Lessons Learned

Many schools offer graduate certificate or degree offerings in public health informatics (PHI). However, Challenges existed in this interdisciplinary health domain of emerging importance. These include limited shared curriculum development involving multiple-domain knowledge experts, and a lack of agreed-upon competency sets exist to guide program development. This presentation discusses the lessons learned by the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences - the only school in the nation dedicated entirely to offering doctoral degree in health informatics, joined by the UT School of Public Health in developing and offering graduate certificate and dual degree programs (MPH/PhD) in PHI. The program development involved faculty members from both schools, with several competency sets of informatics in public health were considered to guide curricula selection decision. Agreed-upon competency sets from both schools were used to identify courses that met the competency requirements. Three different course models were listed for completion requirements, while all of them involving the educational offering from both schools. The graduate certificate and dual degree programs are so designed that they leverage the strengths of faculty members from both schools, and as such students are able to benefit from learning in both core discipline of emerging importance. Since the initial offering in 2008 they have attracted wide attention from health practitioners in the U.S. and many Asian countries. The challenges of developing the PHI Programs lie in building upon the strengths of available course offering; constant communication to ensure the buy-ins of collaborating institutions; and leverage distributed learning modality and the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Our PHI Programs have major foci in employing public health informatics to address public health preparedness and response, health disparities and minority health, health education and behavioral changes, which will become important field of informatics training and research in southern U.S and beyond.