Biomedical Data Science PhD

The current explosion of biomedical data provides an awesome opportunity to improve understanding of the mechanisms of disease and ultimately to improve human health care. However, fully harnessing the power of high-dimensional, heterogeneous data requires a new blend of skills including programming, data management, data analysis, and machine learning.

Blending the best of statistics and computer sciences, biostatistics and biomedical informatics, this program provides students the training they need to make sense of large-scale biomedical data, and to be scientific leaders in the team science that invariably accompanies such data. Unique features of the program include cross-training in computer science and biostatistics, and research rotations mentored by a program faculty member jointly with a scientific collaborator.

1. Articulate the biological context of a research question and the scientific relevance of analysis results.
2. Communicate with scientific and quantitative (computational and statistical) colleagues about data analysis goals, methods, and results.
3. Extract the statistical or computational problems from a scientific problem. Develop, characterize, and implement suitable analysis methods to answer questions from biomedical data. Evaluate the validity of analysis methods.
4. Analyze data; extract knowledge and guide decisions based on biomedical data. Organize data and software so that quantitative analyses are meaningful and reproducible.
5. Critically evaluate quantitative approaches in the scientific literature.
6. Evaluate and develop study designs and recognize limitations and potential biases in research data sets.
7. Identify the ethical and regulatory issues surrounding a research project.
8. As part of a biological, biomedical or population health investigative team, serve as the leader in the area of rigorous computational and statistical investigation.

A bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or a comparable degree from an international institution is required. International applicants must have a degree comparable to a regionally accredited U.S. bachelor’s degree. You must have completed your undergraduate degree, or similar, before starting graduate school.

A minimum undergraduate grade-point average (GPA) of 3.00 on the equivalent of the last 60 semester hours (approximately two years of work) or a master’s degree with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 is required. Applicants from an international institution must demonstrate strong academic achievement comparable to a 3.00 for an undergraduate or master’s degree. The Graduate School will use your institution’s grading scale. Do not convert your grades to a 4.00 scale.

Every applicant whose native language is not English, or whose undergraduate instruction was not in English, must provide an English proficiency test score. TOEFL scores must be submitted electronically via ETS. IELTS scores can be submitted electronically or by paper.  Our office address is: UW-Madison Graduate School, Office of Admissions, 232 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706.  Your score will not be accepted if it is more than two years old from the start of your admission term. Country of citizenship does not exempt applicants from this requirement. Language of instruction at the college or university level and how recent the language instruction was taken are the determining factors in meeting this requirement.

Applicants are exempt if: