DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI) research training program at the University of Washington (UW) has matured rapidly and expanded significantly since its inception in 1999. UW offers a highly collaborative environment with a strong track record of interdisciplinary research initiatives, which has driven the culture and priorities of the UW BHI activities. At its core the UW program recognizes that a key characteristic of successful BHI researchers is the ability to play a leadership role in translating methods and models from the computing sciences, information sciences and behavioral sciences into tools and solutions for information related challenges and opportunities to improve health for individuals, communities, nationally and globally. The vision of BHI at UW is to promote research and education unleashing the potential for electronic biomedical data and information to advance research and improve health. In that context, BHI trains future research leaders in the field with translational skills and interdisciplinary expertise across the domains of bioinformatics, clinical informatics, and public health informatics. The UW training program consists of: a) a core curriculum of foundational concepts in the field that reach across the discipline, b) core domain courses (clinical, biological, and public health), c) methodology courses (research methods, knowledge representation, communication and teaching), and d) individualized in depth electives in foundational and domain areas. To maintain its success in recruiting and fostering success for students and faculty, UW BHI proposes to continue the NLM training program, seeking funding to support 15 trainees for the next funding cycle. As we continue to build our program we plan to continue to expand our interdisciplinary research collaborations with three strategic areas of focus in particular: a) leveraging BHI's leadership role in our Institute of Translational Health Sciences, b) introduce formal practicum experiences for all our trainees and c) continue and enhance the role of informatics in clinical research.

Narrative The training grant program in Biomedical and Health Informatics at the University of Washington aims to prepare future leaders who will unleash the potential for electronic biomedical data and information to advance research and improve health. Informatics training can prepare the future researchers who will utilize informatics approaches for the significant challenges in health care and biomedicine leading to interventions that will improve health outcomes at the individual and population level.