1. Defining Biomedical Informatics and its Relationship to Dental Research and Practice
Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD
College of Physicians & Surgeons
Columbia University
Dental Informatics & Dental Research: Making the Connection
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
June 12, 2003

2. What is Medical Informatics?
The scientific field that deals with the storage, retrieval, sharing, and optimal use of biomedical information, data, and knowledge for problem solving and decision making.
Medical informatics touches on all basic and applied fields in biomedical science and is closely tied to modern information technologies, notably in the areas of computing and communication.

5. Medical Informatics in Perspective
Basic Research
Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Applied Research
Public Health
Clinical
Medicine
Nursing
Veterinary Medicine
Dentistry
Molecular Biology
Visualization

6. Medical Informatics in Perspective
Basic Research
Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Applied Research
Public Health Informatics
Clinical
Medicine Informatics
Nursing Informatics
Veterinary Informatics
Dental Informatics
Bioinformatics
Imaging Informatics

7. Medical Informatics in Perspective
Basic Research
Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Clinical
Public Health Informatics
Nursing Informatics
Dental Informatics
Imaging Informatics
Clinical
Medicine Informatics
Veterinary Informatics
Bioinformatics
Applied Research

8. Medical Informatics in Perspective
Basic Research
Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Applied Research
Imaging Informatics
Clinical
Informatics
Public Health Informatics
Bioinformatics

9. Medical Informatics in Perspective
Medical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Basic Research
Applied Research
Imaging Informatics
Clinical Informatics
Public Health Informatics
Bioinformatics
Molecular and
Cellular
Processes
Tissues and
Organs
Individuals
(Patients)
Populations
And Society

10. Medical Informatics in Perspective
Medical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Imaging Informatics
Clinical Informatics
Public Health Informatics
Bioinformatics

11. Medical Informatics in Perspective
Biomedical ??
Bioinformatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Medical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories ?? ??
Imaging Informatics
Clinical Informatics
Public Health Informatics
Bioinformatics

12. Biomedical Informatics in Perspective
Biomedical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Basic Research
Applied Research
Imaging Informatics
Clinical Informatics
Public Health Informatics
Bioinformatics
Molecular and
Cellular
Processes
Tissues and
Organs
Individuals
(Patients)
Populations
And Society

13. Examples of Growing Synergies Between Clinical and Bio- Informatics
Applications at the intersection of genetic and phenotypic data
e.g., pharmacogenomics
e.g., identification of patient subgroups
Shared methodologies with broad applicability
e.g., natural language and text processing
e.g., cognitive modeling of human-computer interaction
e.g., imaging (organs, biomolecular, 3D)
e.g., inferring structure from primary data
e.g., data mining (knowledge extraction) from large datasets

14. Journal of Biomedical Informatics
Formerly “Computers and Biomedical Research”
Volume 36 in 2003
Emphasizes methodologic innovation rather than applications, although all innovations are motivated by applied biomedical goals

15. Biomedical Informatics in Perspective
Contribute to...
Biomedical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Computer
Science
Draw upon….
Other
Component
Sciences
Management
Sciences
Information
Sciences
Cognitive
Science
Decision
Science
Biomedical
Domain
Contributes to….
Applied Informatics
Draws upon….

16. Core of Biomedical Informatics As An Academic Discipline
Knowledge
Biomedical
Data
Inferencing
System
Data
Base
Knowledge
Base

17. Biomedical Informatics Research Areas
Knowledge
Biomedical
Data
Biomedical
Research
Planning &
Data Analysis
Real-time acquisition
Imaging
Speech/language/text
Specialized input devices
Machine learning
Text interpretation
Knowledge engineering
Knowledge
Acquisition
Data
Acquisition
Knowledge
Base
Inferencing
System
Data
Base
Model
Development
Information
Retrieval
Diagnosis
Treatment
Planning
Human
Interface
Teaching
Image
Generation

18. Examples from a Recent Columbia Retreat: Cross Cutting Methodologies
Natural language and text processing
Knowledge representation and structuring / ontology development
Cognitive science in biomedical informatics
Data mining
3-dimensional modeling

19. Biomedical Informatics in Perspective
Contribute to...
Biomedical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Computer
Science,
Decision
Cognitive
Information
Sciences,
Management
Sciences
and other
Component
Draw upon….
Contributes to….
Structural Biology, Genetics,
Molecular Biology
Bioinformatics
Draws upon….

20. Dental Informatics
Significant opportunities for research across the spectrum of biomedical informatics application areas (bioinformatics, imaging, clinical, public health)
Challenges exist that can help to drive innovation and scientific contributions in biomedical informatics and in other, non-biomedical, areas of application

21. Biomedical Informatics in Perspective
Contribute to...
Biomedical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories
Computer
Science,
Decision
Cognitive
Information
Sciences,
Management
Sciences
and other
Component
Draw upon….
Contributes to….
Oral Medicine, Dentistry, Craniofacial Surgery, Dental Research
Dental Informatics
Draws upon….

22. Challenges For Academic Informatics
Explaining that there are fundamental research issues in the field in addition to applications and tool building
Finding the right mix between research/training and service requirements
Developing and nurturing the diverse collegial and scientific relationships typical of an interdisciplinary field

23. Academic Informatics: Lessons We Have Learned
Service activities can stimulate new research and educational opportunities
Need to have enough depth in faculty to span a range of skills and professional orientations
Need to protect students from projects on critical paths to meeting service requirements
Institutional support and commitment are crucial
Financial stability
Visibility and credibility with colleagues in other health science departments and schools

24. Training Future Biomedical Informatics Professionals
The Problem: There are too few trained professionals, knowledgeable about both biomedicine and the component sciences in biomedical informatics
The Solution: Formal training in biomedical informatics, with the definition of a core discipline and specialized elective opportunities

25. Curriculum Development
Perspective of our Department of Biomedical Informatics
Basic objectives: fundamental areas of biomedicine, computer science and mathematics that are prerequisites for further study in Biomedical Informatics
Core objectives: essential skills required by all Biomedical Informatics students
General objectives: ability to conduct research and participate in the educational activities of the field
Specialized objectives: application of general methods and theories in at least one of four different areas: bioinformatics, imaging informatics, clinical informatics, and public health informatics

26. Biomedical Informatics Disciplines
Computer Science (hardware)
Computer Science (software)
Cognitive Science
& Decision Making
Bioengineering
Biomedical
Informatics
Management
Sciences
Epidemiology
And Statistics
Clinical
Topics
Basic Biomedical
Sciences

28. Biomedical Informatics Curriculum
Major subject areas:
1. Biomedical Informatics
2. Biomedicine
3. Computer Science
4. Decision and Cognitive Sciences
5. Public Policy and Social Issues

29. 1. Biomedical Informatics Courses
Computer applications in health care
Computer-assisted medical decision making
Bioinformatics (computational biology)
Biomedical imaging (imaging informatics)
Programming projects course
Weekly student seminars (topic review or research report by students)
Weekly research colloquium
Biomedical informatics “civics”

30. Medical Informatics Textbook (2nd edition)
Biomedical Informatics Textbook (3rd edition)
Bio
Springer Verlag
2004?

31. Program Characteristics
Steady-state program size: students
Dental informatics postdocs 3 students
Applications per year: ~130 candidates
Admissions per year: 8-10 students
Principal faculty: 30
Participating and consulting faculty: ~20
Trainees generally supported on a training grant, as graduate research assistants on sponsored projects, or as teaching assistants

32. Doctoral Research in Informatics
Although they are inspired by biomedical application goals, dissertations in biomedical informatics must:
offer methodological innovation, not simply interesting programming artifacts
generalize to other domains, within or outside biomedicine
Inherently interdisciplinary, biomedical informatics provides bridging expertise and opportunities for collaboration between computer scientists and biomedical researchers and practitioners

33. Career Paths for Biomedical Informatics Professionals
Academic biomedical informatics research and development, and educational support
Clinical, administrative, and educational management
Operational service management
Health system chief information officer or medical/nursing director for information technology
Digital library development and implementation
Corporate research and development
Biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies

34. Trends
Creation of several new biomedical informatics departments or independent academic units
Reasonably strong job market for graduates of informatics degree programs
Government investment in training and research is reasonably strong, especially for applications and demonstrations
Increasing acceptance of biomedical informatics as an emerging subspecialty area by biomedical professional societies
Increasing recognition that biomedical problems can drive the development of basic theory and capabilities in information technology research