The Master of Science in Biomedical Clinical Research Emphasis trains aspiring researchers who want to play key roles in research as part of a larger interdisciplinary team. Our graduates will become effective team members who answer important public health questions and who improve the quality of medical care through multidisciplinary approaches to education, research, and development in the field of clinical research.

The Clinical Research Emphasis places a high emphasis on understanding how hypotheses are formulated into researchable questions, how clinical studies are designed and implemented, how to best capture the information generated by patient care and clinical studies, and the statistical methodology needed for clinical research and improved bedside care.

Professors teaching courses within this curriculum will utilize real-world examples (programs and data sets from their own research or that of others) as a way of helping students understand the questions which are being asked and how their own skills can be developed to help answer those questions.

Students across the five emphasis areas within the Bioinformatics Program (Clinical Research, Computational, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Genomics, and Individualized Informatics)will interact in a number of ways during the course of their studies for the Master degree. This interaction should foster the ability of the students to work together in a collaborative environment in their future research.

• Outcomes research, utilization and costs of care
• Public health and health promotion
• The local to international continuum of health services
• Outreach to special populations (e.g. refugees, Medicaid enrollees, minorities)
• Program evaluation, characteristics and behavior of practitioners
• AIDS and other emerging infections
• Use of complementary and alternative medicine
• Pharmacoepidemiology

Program Objectives:

• We train highly competent practitioners, teachers, and researchers in the science of clinical research.
•  We train students in the creation and understanding of data generated by patient care and clinical studies and on the statistical methodology needed for clinical research and improved bedside care.
• We apply scientific findings to clinical settings, evaluate outcomes and develop public health policy.
• We advance research in the biostatistics, public health sciences, health services delivery, preventive medicine and public health practice.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the Clinical Research Emphasis Area in the Bioinformatics Master Degree Program will be prepared to:

• • Pose a researchable question, develop hypotheses, collect evidence, analyze data, and address hypotheses.
  • Design and implement cost-effective clinical trials to answer important clinical questions.
  • Access information through the use of databases and other electronic media.
  • Organize complex quantitative and qualitative information and utilize it effectively.
  • Draw conclusions after weighing evidence, facts and ideas.
  • Convey findings through written and oral communication.
  • Identify the researcher’s responsibilities in the ethical conduct of clinical research.
  • Integrate theory and research into advanced clinical practice.

Students in the Clinical Research Emphasis can elect to do a 6 credit hour Research and Thesis, a 3 credit hour Capstone Project, or No-Thesis.

“Information is as critical to the provision of safe health care – care that is free from errors of both commission and omission – as it is to the safe operation of an aircraft.”

-Institute of Medicine Committee on Data Standards for Patient Safety
2004.