Department of Biomedical Informatics

Funding

Scholarships, fellowships and grants are available to support training in the Department of Biomedical Informatics. Applicants should be aware these funding sources are competitively sought and acceptance into the program does not guarantee financial support.

National Library of Medicine Training Grant Fellowships

The University of Utah has a Medical Informatics Training Grant from the National Library of Medicine (NLM). The primary purpose of this grant is to train research investigators in Biomedical Informatics. For Pre-doctoral students, this grant is designed to fund students to achieve the PhD degree. For Postdoctoral (MD or PhD), the grant can fund for training to achieve either MS or PhD degrees.

The NLM training grant pays a stipend, tuition expenses, health insurance premiums and travel expenses to the annual NLM fellows meeting. The NLM funding for students is limited to US citizens and permanent residents. Continuation of funding is made on a year-to-year basis and is contingent upon adequate student performance each year and the availability of funds. For those who already have an MD degree or a PhD degree and are obtaining a Masters Degree, support for up to three (3) years is possible. For PhD students support for up to four (4) years is possible.

For more information, see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/trainedu.html

Veterans Affairs Special Fellowships Program

The VA Medical Informatics Fellowship Program provides two years of post-residency/postdoctoral research and educational learning opportunities to board eligible or board certified physicians and dentists and postdoctoral associated health professionals (e.g., PhD Epidemiology, PhD Computer Science, PharmD, Doctorate Nursing) at competitively selected VA sites. Medical (for entire employee's family) and life insurance are covered. Tuition is not covered, but we try to assist students when funds are available. All sites are affiliated with institutions designated as National Library of Medicine (NLM) Medical Informatics Training Programs. This allows VA to benefit from the critical mass present at NLM-sponsored medical informatics programs. Fellows spend their time in research and educational activities relevant to VA. Mentors of national stature provide guidance to fellows in rich learning environments. Graduates are expected to be role models in leading, developing, conducting, and evaluating innovative medical informatics programs.

For more information contact: 

Brian C Sauer, PhD
SLC VA IDEAS Center
801 582 1565 x2469
Brian.Sauer@hsc.utah.edu

Western Regional Graduate Program

WICHE, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, promotes the sharing of higher education resources among the western states. One of the WICHE programs established for this purpose is the Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP).

Reduced costs to many high-quality graduate programs are available to WICHE-state students through WRGP. In most cases, WRGP students pay tuition at resident student rates. More importantly, WRGP includes a wide range of graduate programs designed around the particular educational, social, and economic needs of the West.

Graduate program applicants who are residents of any participating WICHE state may enroll as WRGP students in participating programs. There is no requirement that students meet financial aid criteria, but they must fulfill all admissions requirements and deadlines set by the institution.

Participating in WICHE's WRGP are 14 western states (Alaska, Arizona, California (as of Fall 2010), Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming ) and over 100 graduate programs. If you are a resident of one of these states, and the program you wish to attend is in WRGP, you are eligible to participate.

For more information: http://www.wiche.edu/wrgp

Other Funding Opportunities

Tuition waivers (Tuition Benefit Program): The University of Utah Graduate School may grant tuition waivers to students receiving a research assistantships or graduate assistantship from the Department, if specific Graduate School requirements are met.

http://www.gradschool.utah.edu/tbp/guidelines.php

Grants: The faculty may be able to provide some limited assistance to qualified applicants and students to obtain funding from granting agencies and foundations. Additional funding opportunities may be available through the University of Utah, Office of Financial Aid & Scholarships, http://www.sa.utah.edu/finance/.