Computer Science 524 - Health Informatics & Data Sci

This course aims to instruct key components related to Clinical Health Informatics and practical data science tools that can be applied to analyze health data. More specifically, this course aims to teach students 1) how to understand and process complex real-world health data, 2) theoretical fundamentals of quantitative analysis of clinical health data, and 3) how to apply the theory and tools to analyze health data. Following an overview of the clinical health informatics industry, the course covers a broad range of introductory topics, including the structure of current health care systems, types of health data, the theory and practical use of quantitative analytic methodologies, and ethics related to healthcare. More specifically, this course will introduce key health informatics technologies and standards, including electronic health records, medical claims data, imaging data, free-text clinical notes, patient-reported outcomes, traditional and machine learning-based analytic algorithms, data visualization, and clinical research and experimental procedures. Note, however, that the course is not designed to introduce new types of machine learning or artificial intelligence algorithms for health-related data.

Open to junior and senior Computer Science majors who have completed COMPSCI 240 or STATISTC 515 with a grade of C or better. PREVIOUSLY COMPSCI 590W. MEETS WITH INFO 324. LECT 01 FOR UNDERGRADS; LECT 02 FOR GRADS. THIS COURSE COUNTS AS A CS ELECTIVE FOR THE CS MAJOR (BA OR BS). COMPSCI 524/590W WILL NOT COUNT TOWARD THE INFORMATICS MAJOR. INFORMATICS MAJORS SHOULD ENROLL IN INFO 324. GRADUATE STUDENTS SHOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH THE FUNDAMENTALS OF STATISTICS (EQUIVALENT TO THE MATERIALS RELATED TO COMPSCI 240 OR STATISTC 515). KNOWLEDGE OF HEALTH DATA OR MEDICINE IS NOT A PREREQUISITE. STUDENTS NEEDING SPECIAL PERMISSION MUST REQUEST OVERRIDES VIA THE ON-LINE FORM: http://www.cics.umass.edu/overrides