Medical Data Science M.Sc.

 

Program Description

Digital technologies are revolutionizing many areas – including health care. Thanks to digitalization, therapies and other care services can now be developed that are individualized and patient-centered. Medical Data Science – that is, the collection, processing, and analysis of data – aims to link care and research. Doing this helps us better understand diseases, select therapeutic approaches that are more personalized while also allowing us to predict their therapies' effects better.

The course of study is designed to accommodate further education students or those employed part-time. It allows participants to learn about medical data science while continuing their regular professional activities at the same time.

The educational concept of the degree program follows three objectives:

1. Medical data and medical data software aspects will be put in a systemic, socio-technical, and regulatory context concerning both care and research. Instructors will teach students these aspects using a spiral approach, which will guide them through the various modules while offering a high degree of practical relevance.
2. The program offers students an integrative, collaborative approach at the interface of medicine and computer science that will also teach them the necessary interdisciplinary professional competencies. Small interdisciplinary learning groups make it possible to learn from, with, and about each other and allow participants insight into different professional and cultural backgrounds.
3. A blended learning approach allows students to design their part-time studies in a flexible and largely individualized manner by being able to combine face-to-face instruction on campus with periods of online learning that involve both contact hours and self-study components.

 

Degree Content

The standard period of study is four semesters. In the first and third semesters, the course content is divided into four modules. The second semester comprises three modules. In addition, an internship or project work is completed this semester. The semester modules are taught via online seminars and, at regular intervals, as block courses on campus in Aachen. RWTH's modern learning platform also provides students with interactive content. The fourth semester is reserved for writing the Master's thesis.

Based on participants' prior knowledge, they will begin with one of the two starting tracks, "Medical Aspects" or "Computer Science Aspects." These two tracks each consist of two modules. This approach ensures that all applicants will have the necessary foundational knowledge in medicine and computer science to have a common baseline of understanding going forward. In the third semester, all participants can choose between the two specialization tracks, "Data Integration" or "Data Analytics" with two modules each.

 

Prerequisites

A prerequisite for admission to studies is a first university degree and at least one year of relevant professional experience. The required professional qualification is formulated in the examination regulations. The board is in charge of determining whether or not prerequisites have been fulfilled.

 

Career Prospects

Successful graduates of the "Medical Data Science” Master's degree program will have acquired skills and competencies that enable them to gather medical data from a variety of sources and also clean and merge those data sets. They will have both fundamental medical and technical knowledge to prepare for medical decisions regarding diagnostics and therapy. This will enable them to improve patient care and drive pioneering medical research.

They will be able to structure and manage complex information systems that achieve high-quality information processing results. As medical data science experts, they will provide the foundation for innovative, data-driven diagnostics and therapy - data integration - or take advantage of, or develop, methods to analyze large amounts of data and to advance machine learning - data analysis - in a medical context. Keeping in mind the ethical, legal, and social aspects of health informatics while also reflecting on their personal role and professional development, they will be able to offer extensive expertise in the area of project and change management in interprofessional contexts.

Their ability to design digitized processes in health care offers successful graduates of the "Medical Data Science” master's degree program a wide range of opportunities for personal and professional development in an interdisciplinary working environment.

 

Examination Regulations

The examination regulations stipulate the course of study objectives, prerequisites, structure, and exam procedures. The appendix to the regulations contains the description of the modules, from which the course of study is composed.

 

Faculty

The Master's program is offered by RWTH’s Faculty of Medicine.