The master's in bioinformatics program at UChicago harnesses the culture of rigorous inquiry, analysis, and discourse we are known for to prepare students for success and leadership in their professional careers in healthcare informatics. This burgeoning field requires top-tier minds to solve the problems facing healthcare across the globe, from patient care to curing disease.
What careers are there in health informatics?
Health informatics practitioners are the architects who structure, assemble, and effectively use data to improve human health. The uncommonly wide range of careers in this field includes administrators, clinicians, physicians, programmers, technologists and other professionals in clinical, technical, and administrative roles who collaborate in a variety of settings such as hospitals, labs, group medical practices, government agencies, public health organizations, medical software companies, and insurance companies. The opportunity for growth in this industry is endless.
Careers in healthcare informatics include:
Chief Medical Information Officer
Clinical Informatics Specialist
Computer and Information Research Scientist
Computer and Information Systems Manager
Data Architect
Data Scientist
Health Information Specialist
Health Information Technology Project Manager
Health Informatics Consultant
Informatics Analyst
Informatics Manager
Medical and Health Services Manager
Nursing Informatics Specialist
Electronic Health Record Specialist (EHR)
What is the job demand and salary for healthcare informatics?
The high-demand healthcare or biomedical informatics field requires skilled and knowledgeable professionals for healthcare administration and management, health information technology, clinical IT leadership, education and academia, and research. A wide variety of employers need qualified medical informatics professionals with Master’s-level degrees, including hospitals and healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, medical technology and device companies, public health organizations, research laboratories, government agencies, insurance companies, medical software companies, medical libraries, and universities. With the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting this sector to open 56,600 jobs from 2021 to 2031, which is much faster than the average for all occupations in the US and salaries exceeding $100,000—you can invest in your career to bring positive change to healthcare.
A Health Informatics Manager in the US will earn an average annual base salary of $119,684.
Unlock the future of healthcare with medical informatics
The use of telemedicine is on the rise
Over the next five years, nontraditional approaches are positioned to drive personalized care and will see more growth in online-only healthcare, on-demand house calls, community-based approaches, retail clinics, and online mental and behavioral health services.
Healthcare technologies will become more accessible
There are strong indications that patients are willing to use health monitors and fitness trackers like smartwatches and mobile applications for managing specific conditions and more. These factors contribute to the vast volume of health data already collected and require skilled health informatics professionals to find ways to utilize all this valuable information to provide better outcomes.
Healthcare solutions can be found in the data
With an aging baby-boomer population, longer life expectancies, and the continued growth of patients with chronic conditions, our healthcare system is struggling and requires innovative solutions to ease the burden. Trained and knowledgeable professionals are needed to make sense of the tremendous amount of health data available and use it to discover solutions.
256%
By 2019, postings for data scientists on Indeed had risen by 256%, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, predicts data science will see more growth than almost any other field between now and 2029. Source.
"I’m doing things I never imagined I’d ever do"
I’m putting everything I learned in the biomedical informatics program to use. UChicago gave me the foundation and now I’m building upon it. I’m doing things I never imagined I’d ever do.
