Poised for the Future of Health Care

By Courtney Hollands

As health care continues to go digital, there’s an increasing demand for health-informatics professionals to manage and analyze all that data from electronic health records and other sources. Indeed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for professionals with master’s degrees in the field will grow 20 percent through 2026, almost triple the average growth rate across all occupations.

With an eye to that future, the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at the School of Medicine is launching a new online health informatics and analytics master’s degree program in fall 2019. “Virtually all aspects of health care for individuals and populations require familiarity with health-informatics concepts,” said Anna Orlova, founding program director.

Full-time master’s degree students can complete the 36-credit program in one-and-a-half years, or in three years of part-time work. All classes will be online, and culminate in a required capstone practicum, which students will complete close to their homes.

“Graduates of the Tufts HIA program will have the knowledge and skills to support institutions and communities in their work towards healthier populations,” said Aviva Must, dean of public health at the School of Medicine. Applications will be accepted starting in November 2018.

This article originally ran in the Summer 2018 issue of Tufts Medicine.