What is Biomedical and Health Informatics?

January, 2022

Informatics.Health

William Hersh, M.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology
Oregon Health & Science University
Email: hersh@ohsu.edu
Web: www.billhersh.info
Blog: https://informaticsprofessor.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/billhersh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/williamhersh

This page contains materials that answer a question I am frequently asked: What is Biomedical and Health Informatics? In addition to providing many links to key sites around the Web for biomedical and health informatics, it also provides a voice-over-Powerpoint lecture (in MP4 format - accessible from all computers and mobile devices) that addresses the question from my perspective. The slides of the lecture are also provided in PDF handout format, with another PDF file of references cited. The lectures are derived from content of my courses in our Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and the 10x10 ("ten by ten") course we offer in partnership with the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). (The online lectures here use the same technology that we use in our courses.) This page also provides a list of recent textbooks, some links to papers I have written, and links to important professional organizations for the field.

The lecture is divided into segments, and includes the following:

What is Biomedical and Health Informatics? (1) (21:23) - Lecture PDF of slides

What is Biomedical and Health Informatics? (2) (15:24) - Lecture PDF of slides
A Short History of Biomedical and Health Informatics (22:19) - Lecture PDF of slides
Resources for Field: Organizations, Information, Education (24:05) - Lecture PDF of slides
Clinical Data (16:18) - Lecture PDF of slides
Examples of the Electronic Health Record (21:48) - Lecture PDF of slides

A bibliography of biomedical and health informatics that includes all of the references and Web site links from the slides (and more) is in an additional PDF of references and Web site links.

There are a number of books written about the field as a whole and various aspects of it. Some major books to which I have contributed include:

Hoyt, RE and Hersh, WR, Eds. (2018). Health Informatics: Practical Guide (Seventh Edition), available from Lulu.com in paper and eBook format.
Hersh, W. (2020). Information Retrieval: A Biomedical and Health Perspective (Fourth Edition). Springer, available from Springer (including SpringerLink) or Amazon.
Shortliffe, EH and Cimino, JJ, Chiang, MF, Eds. (2021). Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Health Care and Biomedicine (Fifth Edition). Springer.
Berner, E, Ed. (2013). Informatics Education in Healthcare: Lessons Learned (Second Edition). Springer.

There are also a number of publications I have written that address aspects of the field:

Hersh, W (2009). A stimulus to define informatics and health information technology. BMC Medical Informatics & Decision Making, 9:24.
Hersh, W and Ehrenfeld, J (2020). Clinical Informatics. In Health Systems Science, Second Edition. S. Skochelak et al. New York, NY, Elsevier: 156-171.
Hersh, W., et al. (2018). Characteristics of the healthcare information technology workforce in the HITECH era: underestimated in size, still growing, and adapting to advanced uses. JAMIA Open 1: 188-194.

In addition, there are a number of professional organizations concerned with biomedical and health informatics :

How does one obtain more information about education in biomedical and health informatics?

AMIA catalog of educational programs
Training programs funded by NLM
Our educational program at OHSU
10x10 ("ten by ten") course offered in partnership with AMIA and OHSU
My blog, the Informatics Professor

Last updated - January 5, 2022