Inter-university Master's Degree in Health Data Science - 1st edition

Technological advances and the digitization of the healthcare environment have led to an increase in the volume of data in recent years, from a wide variety of sources such as sensors, medical devices, clinical records and wearables.

This wealth of massive data in the field of health care requires professionals capable of extracting information that can be applied to improve the clinical care of patients and health care users. Data Science is one of the disciplines that responds to this demand, which, according to some, is growing by more than 50% every year. This percentage is even higher in the case of data scientists specializing in health.

The official international Master's Degree in Health Data Science (MHEDAS) is designed to meet this expected demand and has the following main objectives:

• To train data scientists to manage and analyse large volumes of health data, and to provide solutions with an impact on the improvement of health care.

• To provide the interdisciplinary training necessary to identify and valorise the opportunities of data science applied to health challenges.

• To train entrepreneurs in the field of digital health in Europe who can create the necessary tools to manage, analyse and extract information from big data in the clinical environment and identify business opportunities.

This master's degree is the result of work between seven Catalan universities (Universitat Rovira i Virgili as the coordinating university, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat de Girona, Universitat de Lleida, Universitat de Vic), the Université Grenoble Alpes, the association Bioinformatics Barcelona (BIB) and hospitals and companies in the biomedical or pharmaceutical sector. This collaboration ensures that the programme is of the highest quality.

Moreover, the annual Summer School brings together renowned experts from a wide range of academic, hospital and industrial collaborating institutions to present their research and the latest developments in the field.

The Master's Degree in Health Data Science receives competitive financing from the European Institute of Innovation & Technology, through the knowledge and innovation community EIT Health, and within the framework of the Entrepreneurship Training and Education-EIT Call 2022. Universitat Rovira i Virgili (coordinator), Université Grenoble Alpes, the association Bioinformatics Barcelona, Barcelona Health Hub, Amgen S.A. and Amgen Research Munich GmbH take part in this project.

Vision

• To train the next generation of innovators in digital health: graduates of the official master's degree in Health Data Science will be health data scientists with a clear entrepreneurial vision. They will be able to not only create the necessary tools to manage, analyse and extract information from the big data generated in the clinical environment, but also to identify and valorise business opportunities.

• To train health data scientists with a clear international and multidisciplinary vocation and with the practical experience and soft skills needed to adapt to the changing and highly technological digital health environment. These skills and knowledge are acquired through innovative teaching and the connection from the beginning with technology-based companies related to the field of health, hospitals and research groups in this field. 

Recording of the informative session of the master’s degree in Health Data Science (academic year 2024-25).