Regenstrief Medical Informatics NLM Research Fellowships

The Regenstrief Institute, an internationally recognized leader in medical informatics and health services research, offers National Library of Medicine supported fellowships in the use of computer technology to improve the quality and delivery of healthcare. Interacting closely with faculty mentors, fellows participate in a two-year (with optional third year) comprehensive training program to prepare for roles in developing, implementing and studying clinical information systems.

The medical informatics fellowship is designed for physicians, other clinicians holding doctorates, and PhDs in relevant fields, with previous computer experience who desire to become part of a community of scholars and clinicians at the forefront of medical and technological innovations.

The Regenstrief fellowship is an exceptional opportunity for those with strong programming skills and experience or interest in higher level languages (Java, C++ and others) who wish to have an immediate impact on patient care.

Participate in the development of real world clinical systems at the Regenstrief Institute, an innovator in medical informatics.

The primary intent of this fellowship is to train fellows for careers in medical informatics research positions in academic or state and federal government programs, although graduates are also sought after by the health care and the medical systems development industry.

Fellows gain hands-on experience with the dynamic Regenstrief Medical Records System, a large city-wide clinical database and world class infrastructure and with federally funded medical and bioinformatics grant projects. These grant projects include the Shared Pathology Information Network, the Indianapolis Network for Patient Care, the Logical Observations Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC®) and Next Generation Internet application to telemedicine in clinical settings and nursing homes.

All aspects of medical informatics will be explored as fellows interact with one of the largest medical informatics physician brain-trusts in the country.

Fellowship Curriculum

While medical informatics is the principal focus of the program, fellows have the opportunity to explore bioinformatics and medical imaging, two fields to which medical informatics has many strong natural links. Genomics data, now found only in research databases, will eventually be used in routine clinical care and have to be stored in electronic medical record systems. Medical informatics uses Hidden Markov Models and neuro-networks for natural language processing and diagnostic systems.

Bioinformatics uses these same tools to predict the function of genomic sequences. Both fields deal with databases of humongous size. All broadly trained medical informatics researchers need an understanding of bioinformatics and its tools. The fellowship provides all fellows with general training in bioinformatics and encourages special emphasis training to fellows with particular interest in bioinformatics.

Imaging is becoming an increasingly important aspect of both clinical care and bio-medical research. While driving up health care costs, CT, MRI and PET have had large effects on the practice of medicine and the precision of diagnoses. Because the image data is so bulky, it consumes a major share of the disk storage resources of complete electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Motion video compression and low cost Internet cable communication offers radical new opportunities for telemedicine and will be explored during the fellowship.

Imaging is also having an equal impact on biologic discovery both at the macro (radiologic and neuroscience) and micro level. Additional opportunities in imaging informatics are available to fellows with special research interest.

What will you learn during your fellowship?

For detailed information see curriculum.

You will study the principles, theory and application of medical informatics and build upon the skills and knowledge you bring to the program. Computer technology and language, system development, and decision science are among the topics covered.

You will learn how to be a researcher. Emphasis on testing and measurement is as important to informatics as it is to the rest of science and at least a third of the curriculum of the medical informatics fellowship is dedicated to research methodology. The measurement of the many aspects of systems' performance and users' interactions is crucial to maximizing the utility and guiding the direction of research and clinical efforts. This will be pursued throughout the fellowship.

You will be exposed to clinical environments that lead the nation in use of informatics tools. Regenstrief fellows are Indiana University School of Medicine fellows with access to all IUSM facilities including its teaching hospitals - Wishard, which is the city-county public hospital of Indianapolis, Clarian-IU/Riley Hospitals, Clarian-Methodist Hospital, and the Roudebush VA Medical Center. These hospitals have a total of more than 1500 beds.

You will participate in the development of real world clinical systems. These systems include the 3rd generation Regenstrief Medical Records System.

You will work with informatics innovators. In addition to developing one of the world's largest electronic medical records systems, Regenstrief researchers originated LOINC, an international laboratory and clinical coding system, and are strong contributors to both past and future versions of HL7, a medical communication standard.

You will develop a project that will be at the forefront of medical informatics research. Regenstrief Institute informatics fellows are expected to complete at least one software or similar development project. Additionally, all fellows must write at least one research proposal, conduct a research study, and publish at least one paper in a peer-reviewed journal.

You will be mentored by international leaders in medical informatics. Mentorship is an important part of the Regenstrief fellowship experience. In addition to weekly classes, Marc Overhage, MD, PhD  an internationally recognized expert in medical informatics and health services research holds a weekly fellows meeting. He and other informatics faculty work closely with the fellows on a day-to-day basis.

You can maintain your clinical knowledge. Informatics fellows may continue clinical activity through arrangements with the appropriate clinical departments. Typically clinically trained fellows devote 10% of their time to outpatient clinics or inpatient units.

You will interact with Institute fellows. Informatics fellows participate fully in the Regenstrief Institute's comprehensive fellowship training program that also offers opportunities for MDs and PhDs in generalist faculty development, health services research, and geriatrics.

You will have the opportunity to earn a Master of Science in Clinical Research degree with a concentration in medical informatics in our popular Clinical Investigator and Translational Education (CITE) Program. Fellows may elect to earn this degree through an NIH-funded program at the Institute that provides formal research training and structured clinical research mentorship.

You will prepare yourself for a career in medical informatics. Past fellows work at academic medical centers, in graduate informatics programs, and in industry.