Program Overview

The university is no longer accepting applicants to the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program. Please explore our new Ph.D. program for our current offering.

The Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program at UMKC offers students the opportunity to work across disciplines and develop an individualized academic plan. Students will be admitted to at least two disciplines (a primary discipline and a co-discipline). Both the primary discipline and co-discipline are offered through the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics.

Biomedical and health informatics is a scientific field that works with biomedical information, data and knowledge – their storage, retrieval and optimal use for problem solving and decision making. All basic and applied fields are closely tied to modern information technologies, notably in computing and communication.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information defines bioinformatics as the “field of science in which medicine, biology, computer science and information technology merge to form a single discipline. The goal of the field is to enable the discovery of new biological insights as well as to create a global perspective from which unifying principles in biology and health can be discerned.”

Career Opportunities

Career options in biomedical and health informatics are plentiful in industry and academic arenas, including jobs in:

  • healthcare (health system: clinical leadership and IT leadership)
  • Biomedical and clinical research, including application of genomics and molecular biology
  • Consumer health
  • Public health
  • Imaging

Co-Disciplines

Students interested in bioinformatics as their primary discipline might consider the following co-discipline areas:

  • Mathematics and statistics
  • Cell biology and biophysics
  • Molecular biology and biochemistry
  • Oral biology and craniofacial sciences
  • Pharmaceutical sciences
  • Pharmacology and toxicology
  • Computer science
  • Engineering
  • Public affairs and administration

Primary Disciplines

Students interested in pursuing bioinformatics as their co-discipline might consider the following primary discipline areas:

  • Mathematics
  • Cell biology and biophysics
  • Molecular biology and biochemistry
  • Oral and craniofacial sciences
  • Pharmaceutical sciences
  • Pharmacology
  • Computer science

For additional general information about Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Studies at UMKC, please refer to the School of Graduate Studies website.