Participatory Approach to Program Evaluation: Learning from Students and Faculty to Improve Training in Biomedical Informatics

Participatory evaluation tools have shown to be effective for program development in various settings, including in higher education. Taking student perspectives into consideration is key for graduate program development, particularly in interdisciplinary programs.The current study utilizes Group Level Assessment (GLA),a participatory program evaluation tool, to evaluate the Biomedical Informatics (BMI) PhD Program at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). The study was conducted two years after the program was established, an appropriate timing to gauge the opinions of current doctoral students as the program grows and develops. The findings show the strengths and identify areas of improvement of the doctoral program, providing an evidence base for administrators and faculty to work collaboratively with students to capitalize on assets and address potential issues

Recent developments in life sciences research: Role of bioinformatics

Life sciences research and development has opened up new challenges and opportunities for bioinformatics. The contribution of bioinformatics advances made possible the mapping of the entire human genome and genomes of many other organisms in just over a decade. These discoveries, along with current efforts to determine gene and protein functions, have improved our ability to understand the root causes of human, animal and plant diseases and find new cures. Furthermore, many future Bioinformatic innovations will likely be spurred by the data and analysis demands of the life sciences. This review briefly describes the role of bioinformatics in biotechnology, drug discovery, biomarkerdiscovery, biological databases, bioinformatic tools, bioinformatic tasks and its application in life sciences research

Biomedical informatics and translational medicine

Biomedical informatics involves a core set of methodologies that can provide a foundation for crossing the "translational barriers" associated with translational medicine. To this end, the fundamental aspects of biomedical informatics (e.g., bioinformatics, imaging informatics, clinical informatics, and public health informatics) may be essential in helping improve the ability to bring basic research findings to the bedside, evaluate the efficacy of interventions across communities, and enable the assessment of the eventual impact of translational medicine innovations on health policies. Here, a brief description is provided for a selection of key biomedical informatics topics (Decision Support, Natural Language Processing, Standards, Information Retrieval, and Electronic Health Records) and their relevance to translational medicine. Based on contributions and advancements in each of these topic areas, the article proposes that biomedical informatics practitioners ("biomedical informaticians") can be essential members of translational medicine teams