UIC chosen as newest AMIA 10x10 program partner

Article courtesy of the American Medical Informatics Association
The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) announced the formal partnership of The University of Illinois at Chicago with the 10x10 program. Annette L. Valenta, DrPH, Professor and Head of the Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will serve as the director of the UIC 10x10 offering.

The AMIA 10x10 program prepares clinicians and other health professionals, as well as IT professionals, to address biomedical and health informatics issues in the workplace; it provides a broad overview of the health informatics field, emphasizing key issues and challenges. Participants will gain introductory knowledge of such topics as information technology and systems in a healthcare setting; collection, analysis and management of healthcare data; storage, retrieval, and networking; information search and retrieval; and system security.

“The synergy of UIC’s extensive health informatics experience and resources with AMIA’s vision and leadership will provide a unique educational pillar needed to support the organization’s goal of training 10,000 health care professionals in biomedical and health informatics by 2010. We look forward to the opportunity of working with AMIA to meet this educational challenge,” said Dr. Valenta.

The 10x10 at UIC course will provide an overview of the biomedical and health informatics field, emphasizing key issues and challenges for the field. This program is of particular value to clinical practitioners, as well as IT professionals, who are seeking to expand their knowledge of the health care information technology industry. The course is adapted from UIC classes offered to both graduate and advanced undergraduate students.

The course is offered in two parts: a Web-based component and a one-day interactive in-person session. The Web-based portion is delivered through readings, lectures, and interactive discussions. The in-person segment will bring together attendees in an interactive session on the socio-technical aspects of informatics, one of many topics in the curriculum. The Web-based component of the course is an overview of topics in the field of health informatics. Students who complete the 10x10 course have the option of continuing their education with a host of on-line health informatics certificate and degree programs offered at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The 10x10 course will be accepted in lieu of BHIS 460, a prerequisite to the Master of Science in Health Informatics program. 

The first AMIA 10x10 at UIC course offering will begin with an in-person session led by Dr. Valenta held in conjunction with the 2007 AMIA Spring Congress in Orlando, Florida. The registration deadline for the course is Wednesday, May 16, 2007. Complete course description and registration is available on the AMIA Web site at: http://www.amia.org/10x10/partners/uic/.