(bright music)
- [Narrator] This is OHSU.
Shaped by leaders, pioneers,
and those brave enough to take that first step.
We carry the torch and shine a light on what is possible.
We are a collaboration of disciplines,
listening to one another, learning from each other.
The OHSU Biomedical Informatics Master's of Science Program
is more than an opportunity to gain experience.
It's your time to serve with a community
of trailblazers and groundbreakers.
- I learned about the field of informatics
as I was finishing my training in internal medicine,
and I thought, "This is for me."
It combines medicine, it combines computers and information.
As soon as I got into it and started doing the work,
I realized that this was my calling in life,
this combination of medicine and information.
We have two majors in our master's program,
the Health and Clinical Informatics major,
or HCIN as we call it,
trains people more around healthcare,
consumer health, public health, and so forth.
The other major,
Bioinformatics and Computational Biomedicine,
which we abbreviate by BCB,
focuses more on genomics and molecular biology
and has a little bit more of a research
and maybe more of a deeper computational aspect to it.
- I've always loved numbers and math,
but I love being a physician.
I love hands-on work with patients.
There are answers out there buried
in all of this data we have, we just need to get to it.
So yes, I am very passionate about bridging that gap.
The goal of the master's program is to take people
from a diverse set of biological
and computational backgrounds,
give them a solid foundation and the skills they'd need
to work in a range of both academic and industry jobs
in data analytics and bioinformatics.
- I chose the masters program here at OHSU
because I knew there were a lot of investigators
that were working on really interesting projects
and the curriculum looked more rigorous,
and it looked like the coursework had a lot more to offer.
A lot of my peers, they went on and did internships
with some pretty cool companies,
like some even in the area.
Initially, I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go.
I wanted to stay within research,
but I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do,
so the masters provided perfect opportunities
to sample and see like, "Is this the right step
in the direction that I want to take later on?"
It was just something that clicked for me
where I was like, "Wow!"
Like I'm home and I'm pretty satisfied
with how the day went,
and I'm looking forward to the next day.
That's a pretty big indicator.
- I was a primary care provider
for children with special healthcare needs.
And I moved out to the West Coast for family reasons
but I knew when I got here that OHSU was here.
- OHSU is a very collaborative community.
I think that one of the strengths of our institution
is that there is a lot of common mission
and mutual respect for each other,
whether you're a clinician or a researcher
or an educator or someone who's working in informatics
and may be part of any of those groups.
- A lot of my peers come from different backgrounds,
but a lot of times
when we have these projects from our courses,
they're pretty open-ended
and you can pick the direction that you wanna go,
and you get the guidance that you need along the way.
But it's not like,
"Okay, you have to answer this question this way."
It's always like a discussion.
- Consultation with others makes your work better.
And so you can make a first draft, but that's what it is.
It's valuable for what it is,
but it will not be what it will be
until you've discussed it with other folks.
- It's wonderful to see students moving into jobs
that people really hadn't envisioned
when they were doing their training.
But I feel strongly that we're sending them out
with a skillset they need to really evolve with the field.
And we emphasize to them that this is a field
where you've got to be okay and comfortable with change
because this is rapidly evolving.
At the same time you'll never be bored.
You'll always be challenged
and be involved in cutting edge science
and biomedical science.
- Is your interest compelling to you?
Is it something that really gets you?
Or is it something that really gives you a positive energy
when you're engaged in it?
It's something like that.
It needs to have sort of a core energy
in what you like and what you feel.
It can be hard work at times,
but it can be absolutely fantastic too,
and that motivation is really key.
- [Narrator] At some point,
it's about the why you do what you do as much as the how.
We do it because we are bold.
We do it because someone needs to make the difference.
And we know we can make the difference
because we already have.
We welcome the curious, inspired,
and those willing to be bold.
This is OHSU.