About Medical Informatics, MSc - at University of Exeter
Medical informatics is 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. There is a growing interest among medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies in biomedical informatics, especially in modelling, simulations, gene expression control, clinical databases, probabilistic modelling and machine learning. Medical informatics impacts on all basic and applied fields in biomedical science and is closely tied to modern information technologies, notably in the areas of e-science and bioinformatics. The overall aim of the programme, which is a variant of our successful Bioinformatics MSc, is to cover tools and techniques that will help scientists create and validate models of how knowledge and data are used within biomedicine, and thereby enhance our understanding of biological and biomedicinal processes. Our MSc Medical Informatics programme reflects medical informatics as a truly multidisciplinary field - it is taught by the School of Biosciences, the Peninsula Medical School, the Wellcome Biocatalysis Centre and the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society (EGENIS). Research projects are undertaken in the Wellcome Biocatalysis Centre or the Peninsula Medical School (Postgraduate Health Institute), or among a range of industrial placements. The course involves research, development and application of computational tools for storing, organising and analysing biological, molecular and medical data, e.g. DNA, protein sequences, SNiPs data, and micro-array data. The programme is split 50:50 between taught modules and a research project.
All material is specifically designed for Masters level and will form an ideal grounding for your future career. The programme has a significant research component, which accounts for about half of the programme, as well as professional skills training, and is designed to provide training in areas most relevant for your academic and professional development.
Entry requirements The course is designed to accommodate postgraduate students from a wide range of first-degree backgrounds. You will require at least a 2:2 degree or equivalent in any scientific or engineering discipline, including natural, mathematical and cognitive science or, if you are a graduate in non-scientific disciplines you will have at least a 2:1 and your degree must have contained a significant computational or empirical component, e.g. programming, experimental design, data analysis, or project.
