Training the Next Generation of Informaticians: The Impact of "BISTI" and Bioinformatics--A Report from the American College of Medical Informatics

Abstract

In 2002-2003, the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) undertook a study of the future of informatics training. This project capitalized on the rapidly expanding interest in the role of computation in basic biological research, well characterized in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biomedical Information Science and Technology Initiative (BISTI) report. The defining activity of the project was the three-day 2002 Annual Symposium of the College. A committee, comprised of the authors of this report, subsequently carried out activities, including interviews with a broader informatics and biological sciences constituency, collation and categorization of observations, and generation of recommendations. The committee viewed biomedical informatics as an interdisciplinary field, combining basic informational and computational sciences with application domains, including health care, biological research, and education. Consequently, effective training in informatics, viewed from a national perspective, should encompass four key elements: (1). curricula that integrate experiences in the computational sciences and application domains rather than just concatenating them; (2). diversity among trainees, with individualized, interdisciplinary cross-training allowing each trainee to develop key competencies that he or she does not initially possess; (3). direct immersion in research and development activities; and (4). exposure across the wide range of basic informational and computational sciences. Informatics training programs that implement these features, irrespective of their funding sources, will meet and exceed the challenges raised by the BISTI report, and optimally prepare their trainees for careers in a field that continues to evolve.

The creation of interdisciplinary biomedical informatics education in an information technology curriculum

“…This rationale reflects the professional activities in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and biomedical industry where an interdisciplinary team is tasked with developing or updating the capabilities of systems in this arena. In support, a task force within the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) published their recommendations regarding the objectives of biomedical informatics training, which included the adoption of interdisciplinary curricula, and challenged educators to provide training in diverse fields of study (See Table 1) 8 . Educators and professionals considering training issues and objectives in biomedical informatics are encouraged to read this task force report from the ACMI 8 .…”

Evidence Based Health Informatics: 10 Years of Efforts to Promote the Principle

“…Recognition of the importance of including evaluation in informatics curricula has also come from the United Sates, where (as well as important input to the IMIA Recommendations), there are two influential initiatives. In 2004 the American College of Medical Informatics produced a report on "Training of the next generation of informaticians", which included evaluation methods among the core skills necessary for informaticians and thus for inclusion in informatics curricula [41], while in 2009 evaluation of health information technology systems was also set as a core competency of the newly implemented U.S. clinical informatics medical subspecialty [42].…”

“…Evidence-based health informatics; evaluation; evidence; health informatics; ethics Yearb Med Inform 2013: [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46] harm can be done, and thus to develop both the scientific culture and the methods to facilitate a scientific, evidence-based, and societally responsible position.…”

Integrating boinformatics, clinical informatics, and information technology in support of interdisciplinary curriculum development

“…The President's Information Technology Advisory Committee recently stated that "the most scientifically important and economically promising research frontiers in the 21 st century will be conquered by those most skilled with advanced computing technologies and computational science applications" [3], which is a direct reflection of the needs of biomedical informatics education. The development of educational methods to meet this need falls squarely on the shoulders of the academic community, and it is recognized that the success of interdisciplinary education involves four key elements identified as inherent to effective instruction in biomedical informatics that include (1) curricula that integrate experiences in the computational sciences and application domains rather than just concatenating them; (2) diversity among learners, with individualized, interdisciplinary cross-training allowing each learner to develop key competencies that he or she does not initially possess; (3) direct immersion in research and development activities; and (4) exposure across the wide range of basic informational and computational sciences [4].…”

“…It is important to note that the term "biomedical informatics" is an umbrella describing this entire interdisciplinary domain that includes more specific application domains such as "bioinformatics" (study of molecular and cellular data), "imaging informatics" (study of tissues and organs), "clinical informatics" (patients and medicine), and "public health informatics" (study of populations and societies) [4]. These sub domains are not exclusive; certainly a scientific project studying genetic variability in the human population can be considered both "bioinformatics" and "public health informatics", yet the skills inherent to one sub domain may not be necessarily relevant to another, particularly when considering the distinction between healthcare and basic biological research.…”