The
infraNET Project and
Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research
University of Waterloo
present ...
"Why Not Advance Health
Informatics Education Through Our Colleges?
by
Dr. Stefan V. Pantazi, MD,
PhD and Dr. Yuri Kagolovsky, MD, MS
Program
Coordinators and Professors, Health Informatics
School of Health Sciences, Community Services and Biotechnology
Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Davis Centre, Room 1302
University of Waterloo
Seminar Series Sponsors
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
McKesson Information Solutions - Smart Systems for Health Agency
Healthcare Information Management and Communications Canada
Abstract
There is a high demand for health informatics professionals in
Canada, representing 2,000 to 9,000 job opportunities in the industry
today. Unfortunately, existing Canadian programs produce fewer than
100 graduates annually, only half entering the industry. As the
result, health informatics positions are usually filled by individuals
with no or minimal formal education in health informatics. To satisfy
the needs of the health system and industry, professionals in health
informatics must combine an understanding of theory with the ability
to apply it in practice. The focus on applied learning has always been
a distinguishing feature of community college-based education. In
2004, Conestoga College was accredited by the Ontario Ministry of
Training, Colleges, and Universities to offer a 4-year Bachelor of
Applied Health Sciences degree in health informatics. The program is
in its third year. It combines theoretical rigor with application and
includes a co-op program. The program curriculum is regularly reviewed
by a Program Advisory Committee that includes representatives from
industry and academia, as well as co-op employers. This presentation provides
an overview of the program, its curriculum, its initial successes and challenges.
About the Speakers
Dr. Yuri Kagolovsky is a physician from the former Soviet Union with
specializations in pediatrics and pathology. He graduated from the University
of Victoria with a MSc in health informatics. Yuri participated in the
work of HEALNet (Health Evidence Application and Linkage Network), and his
research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national
and international conferences. He has been a professor and program coordinator
at Conestoga College since 2004. Dr.
Stefan Pantazi is a physician trained in General Medicine in
Romania. He received his PhD from the University of Victoria. In his
doctoral dissertation "A Deterministic Dynamic Associative Memory
(DDAM) Model for Concept Space Representation," he explored topics in
knowledge discovery and representation and underlined the importance
of "context-dependent processing of medical information," a view
fundamentally linked to Case Based Reasoning, Information Retrieval and
Algorithmic Information Theory.
For more information
Shirley Fenton
Managing Director, WIHIR
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4074
Seminar Hosts
This seminar is hosted by the Waterloo Institute for Health
Informatics Research (WIHIR) and The infraNET Project, University of Waterloo.
The infraNET Project, initiated by the University of Waterloo in
1996, is a partnership to advance Web and Internet technologies. Its founding
partners were: LivePage (now part of Oracle), MKS, Open Text, RIM,
Sybase (Waterloo) and Waterloo Maple.
We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Institute for
Computer Research, University of Waterloo.
