# Buffalo Research Innovation in Genomic and Healthcare Technology Education (BRIGHT Education)

> **NIH NIH T15** · STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO · 2022 · $399,429

## Abstract

The University at Buffalo’ (UB) Department of Biomedical Informatics, with funding from our first T15 grant, is
training 3 PhD students, 8 post docs (MDs and PhDs) and 7 short term trainees in biomedical informatics
research. We continue our focus on: 1-health & healthcare/clinical informatics; 2-translational bioinformatics;
and 3-clinical research informatics, with inclusion now on informatics of: 4-Public Health and 5-Consumer
Health. The curriculum builds on our growing MS and PhD programs with our existing faculty and outside
mentors in addition to world-renowned experts who provide workshops, etc. Most medical informatics research
focuses on the specifics of research in implementation, technology, clinical care, etc. We do that, of course, but
we also integrate the synergistic research skills and orientations needed for biomedical informatics to move our
discipline beyond its current entanglements. In contrast, our department (now 7.5 years old) fits perfectly with
the ethos and focus of the NLM’s research training goals. We also realize that our location in a depressed area
offers us the obligation, opportunity, and privilege to recruit and train scholars so often excluded from this field.
They stay in familiar settings, and bring their insights to others. Also, our affiliated scholars, researchers,
practitioners, and linked institutes joins with us to train and inspire our students. We enable students to use
research to understand and improve the field--analyzing the complex interactions of workflow, evaluation,
CDS, usability, ethics, big data, clinical research, bioinformatics and patient care–researching biomedical
informatics to help move healthcare IT to be a fluent, informed, and meaningful contribution to clinical
efficiency and medical knowledge. Our PhD program is comprised of core courses, required additional courses
in 1 of the 5 concentrations (“selectives”), and at least 17 credits of electives. In addition to didactic and lab
courses, all students are involved in extensive research, practicums, workshops, presentations, mock IRBs
and ethics reviews, EHR laboratories, patient safety and quality rounds, and human factors training. Because
of students’ varying expertise, we build in flexibility to reflect pedagogic requirements while ensuring mastery of
necessary knowledge, skills, judgment in our mentoring of students. Biomedical informatics continues to
frustrate, despite (or because of) its extraordinary promises. Only committed and skilled researchers can help
us close this gap; enabling our field to achieve what is so needed. We are so excited to continue and build on
our training program. We seek to create the researcher-leaders informatics needs, deserves and has wanted.
Biomedical informatics can fulfil its promise if wise and well-trained researchers guide our unbiased
evaluations, policies, applications, and research agendas. The UB T15 program’s trainees have published over
118 peer reviewed manuscripts, been awarded...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10405911
- **Project number:** 2T15LM012495-06
- **Recipient organization:** STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
- **Principal Investigator:** PETER L. ELKIN
- **Activity code:** T15 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $399,429
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2017-07-01 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10405911

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10405911, Buffalo Research Innovation in Genomic and Healthcare Technology Education (BRIGHT Education) (2T15LM012495-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10405911. Licensed CC0.

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