IU Touts First Health Data Science Degree

The paid parental leave policy will begin July 1.

The Indiana University Board of Trustees has approved two new degree programs, including one the university says is the first of its kind. Pending final approval by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, the university will offer a master of science in anesthesia and what it calls the nation’s first bachelor of science degree in health data science.

The health data science degree will be offered at the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI. Dean Paul Halverson says the degree responds to regional and national needs for qualified data scientists, for which job listings have increased more than 2,000 percent in the past four years.

The program will also include computer science or informatics tracks, in which students can receive a minor in either computer science from the School of Science’s Department of Computer and Information Science or a minor in informatics from the IU School of Informatics and Computing. 

The IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis is offering the master’s degree in anesthesia. The program, which lasts seven semesters, will allow anesthesiologist assistants to train to work in a team setting with physician anesthesiologists.