MS in Biostatistics Information Session

Name: MS in Biostatistics Information Session
Uploaded: 2021-11-11T13:33:11.733Z
Duration: 1 h 38 s
Description: Shuangge (Steven) Ma, Maria Ciarleglio, Melanie Elliot, Christian Tschudi, Zuozheng (Anita) Wang, Michael Kane, Donna Spiegelman, Cynthia Brandt, Robert McDougal, Mary Keefe

November 11, 2021

Shuangge (Steven) Ma, Maria Ciarleglio, Melanie Elliot, Christian Tschudi, Zuozheng (Anita) Wang, Michael Kane, Donna Spiegelman, Cynthia Brandt, Robert McDougal, Mary Keefe

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ID: 7148
To Cite: DCA Citation Guide

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00:01<v ->Okay, it's 8:02, let's get started.</v>
00:05Good morning, Good evening.
00:06I'm a Steven ma.
00:07I'm a Professor OF biostatistics and
00:11Interim Chair of the Biostat Department.
00:14First of all,
00:15thanks very much for your interest in our graduate program
00:20and we have a very full agenda
00:22and also I want to take this opportunity
00:25to thank my colleagues for joining me.
00:29And during our presentation,
00:31if you have any questions you can either type in chat
00:36or you can reserve your question
00:38for that 20 minutes Q and A. Next page.
00:46So biostat is actually a very interesting field,
00:50if you look at the word biostatistics.
00:53it's actually composed of two parts,
00:56statistics and bio.
00:58That's actually exactly what we do, on one side
01:02we conduct statistical methodological research
01:07and on the other side, we apply such measures to
01:11biomedical public health applications.
01:14And here I want to quote from our Dean, Dr Vermund.
01:19Biostat has the largest department
01:22in our school public house and
01:25we have been heavily involved in
01:28pretty much all studies conducted at
01:31school public house and school medicine. Next page
01:38So as you can see here,
01:41we have a big department and
01:42we really got all major research areas,
01:47whole bio statistics and statistics covered.
01:50So our faculty have been conducting research in some
01:54I'll say relatively classic, you know, science fields,
01:58like survival analysis, longitudinal data,
02:01and the missing data.
02:03We also work on more recent, more challenging fields,
02:06like a causal inference, big data,
02:10AI data integration and others, and all those masters.
02:15I want to a hundred precise,
02:16have been strongly motivated by biomedical and
02:19the public house of applications.
02:22So we have been collaborating with researchers
02:25in cancer, cardiovascular diseases, genetics,
02:29HIV, aging, risk predictions.
02:33So I guess what I'm trying to say here is no matter
02:37which statistical area you're interested in,
02:41no matter which application area you're interested in,
02:45I can guarantee you, you can find some faculty to
02:48work with in our department, next page.
02:53So this is a brief overview of our
02:56graduate programs. And later my colleagues
02:59will introduce each component in details.
03:03So we have both master and bachelor level.
03:09And for our master level,
03:11we actually have MPH and I'm asked,
03:15so this MPH has a stronger emphasis on public house.
03:23And for MS, we have a stronger emphasis on
03:27statistical methodology to serve.
03:29And actually for our MS, we have,
03:33I will say a slightly well, I'm not quite complicated,
03:39but a very comprehensive structure.
03:41So first of all,
03:42we actually have a division of house informatics.
03:46We've seen our biostat department so far I'm as,
03:50broadly, we have biostatistics and house informatics.
03:56And we've seen biostatistics I'm asked,
03:59we have three pathways.
04:01The first is called a standard pathway.
04:04And also in the past couple of years,
04:08we established the implementation science pathway
04:12and also data scientists pathway.
04:14So the three pathways have different presenters
04:19and have overlapping courses,
04:21but also different strong status.
04:24So here is also,
04:26you can find a list of a number of required courses,
04:29and state how the information on a site,
04:32and exactly what kind of courses you need to take
04:35can be found on our website and for our PhD,
04:39we have biostat in the standard of pathway and
04:43also the implementation pathway for,
04:47I just want to add a quick remark on the standard pathway.
04:50It's well, personally,
04:53I want to say it's not a very good name.
04:56It's by no means standard. It's just,
04:59I want to say it's emphasize on sort of
05:03the core of biostatistics. Next page.
05:12So as I mentioned, we have a decent sized department.
05:15We have 23 teaching faculty and
05:18a 21 secondary faculty.
05:21We also have lectures and adjunct faculty.
05:24So one thing I want to emphasize is when you come here,
05:28you will have access, not just to the biostat department.
05:33You will be a part of school public house
05:36and you will be part of Yale University.
05:40So you will be able to work with long list of
05:43faculty and also our collaborators.
05:48So we have well over a 100 graduate students.
05:54And as you can see here, we have a significant chunk in
05:59number of students in the past year
06:01and for our house from Annex,
06:03this is a very new program. It's still expanding.
06:07It's growing very fast and we have only three second year
06:12students, but we already have Penn first year students.
06:16And we do expect significant growth in house informatics,
06:21as well as you biostatics in the years to come.
06:25next page.
06:29So what you will do, if you do come here,
06:34you will take required courses.
06:36And again, I want to emphasize you will be
06:39exposed to the whole Yale University.
06:42So there will be a long list of a lot of
06:45elective courses you can choose from and
06:47you will be working on practical projects.
06:51If you choose. some of those projects can
06:54turn into master thesis and also about dissertations.
07:00And also our students will do summer interns.
07:04This is true for MS, MPH and PhD students.
07:09And this intern experience has been proven to be highly,
07:13highly invaluable for our past students, next page.
07:21So, as I mentioned,
07:23you will have opportunity to work with our
07:26faculty and our collaborators.
07:28So here's a list of centers you can work in.
07:33And some of them are based in your department,
07:36like YCAS C2S2 and center for Statistical
07:39Genomics Proteomics and Implementation Science Center
07:44Those are all led by our faculty and
07:48the station in our department,
07:51and you will have other opportunities
07:54like Center for Outcome Research and Evaluation.
08:00And also we have a very strong PI with our
08:05local VA hospital and a research center.
08:09So we do have many opportunities within
08:13and outside of the Yale University.
08:17next page.
08:21So peripherally here is a very partial list of
08:26our companies, institutes.
08:29Our master's students, PhD students
08:33have done their interns and also
08:35what they do after they graduate.
08:37So far our master's students actually both MS and MPH.
08:41If you are interested in pursuing a PhD in
08:48very recent years, we have students going into Brown, Emory,
08:52Harvard, Rutgers, Penn, Hopkins,
08:55all those top ranking universities.
08:59And of course, we also have quite a few students
09:02deciding to stay and do a PhD at Yale.
09:07And also here's a list of companies and
09:10research user details.
09:13So, one thing I want you to say is I think this is
09:16a really good time to do graduate study in biostatistics.
09:21The market has been really hot.
09:23And in the past couple of years,
09:25I don't recall a single case where our
09:28students had problem with placement. Next page.
09:35So what we'll do is now we'll pass the floor to Chris
09:40Chris is our graduate study director and
09:45he and his team oversees our MS and PhD programs. Chris
09:52<v ->Thank you, Steven.</v>
09:54And hello everybody.
09:56And I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you
10:01and thank you for being interested in our graduate programs.
10:04As Steven said,
10:06I am the director of graduate studies at
10:08the school of public health,
10:09and therefore I oversee the PhD and MS programs,
10:14as you already heard,
10:16in addition to the MS and PhD program,
10:17we have a master of public health program at
10:20the school of public health.
10:23It;s a two year program and in different disciplines.
10:28The real takeaway a message from this slide is that the MPH,
10:33the master of public health is administered by
10:36the Yale school of public health.
10:39Whereas the PhD and the MS,
10:42the master of science degree is administered by the
10:43Yale graduate school of arts and sciences.
10:48And that will influence where you apply
10:51for one of these degrees.
10:52And this will be explained more later in our presentations.
10:56Next slide please.
11:00So for the degrees that are offered by the
11:03Yale graduate school of arts and sciences,
11:05we have the master of science program,
11:08which as Steve already mentioned, this,
11:10we have concentrations in biostatistics, health informatics,
11:13chronic disease, epidemiology,
11:15and epidemiology of infectious diseases.
11:18And then we have PhD programs in the six departments in
11:22this school of public health,
11:24and they don't need to mention them all here.
11:27But what we concentrating today is
11:29the PhD program in bio statistics.
11:32Next slide.
11:34And I'll pass it over to Anita who will tell
11:37you more about the master of public health degree
11:40at the school of public health.
11:43<v ->Yes.</v>
11:44Thank you, Chris. So my name is, Anita Wong
11:47I'm an associate professor in the department and
11:50I'm also the department representative in terms of MPH,
11:54the mission for the school for the department.
12:00So tomorrow I'm going to hold a separate session
12:04specifically to talk about more detail about MPH.
12:07So today I'm going to give a very brief introduction
12:11about the MPH program in biostatistics.
12:15So this MPH a degree in biostatistics and
12:20train students in the application of a statistic and
12:24by statistical principles and methods in
12:27the field of health science and medicine, and biology.
12:31Students get opportunity to learn
12:34a full spectrum of public house.
12:36And also in terms of learning of biostatistic methods.
12:41and students get an opportunity here to start
12:45from learning institute, study design
12:48and data management and analysis,
12:51and then this skills propel students for a career in
12:55research, healthcare delivery,
12:58regulatory of firms and industry, you know,
13:01In addition that students
13:03get to exposed to a summer internship and
13:07applied practical experience
13:10to enhance the research skill and
13:14gain real experience related to hands-on work
13:19in public house.
13:22So currently MPH students have options to add one of the
13:29schools, six concentrations and tracks.
13:32So this six concentration tracks
13:36including climate change and health, global health,
13:40maternal child house promotion,
13:44and public house modeling and
13:47the regulatory affairs and the US Health Justice.
13:50So those are great opportunities for students who learn more
13:55public house applications using
13:57the best statistical knowledge.
14:00So as you can see that MPH degree folks
14:05a lot of public house application.
14:09So the MS program offers, you know,
14:15department trained all students to own statistical skills
14:20and knowledge related to the field of biostatistics.
14:23So after what time going finish the MPH introduction.
14:30So most of faculties well focused on the MS program
14:35in our department. Next slide, please.
14:42The requirements for MPH program is that,
14:48so we, we are looking for students who,
14:53or who are we strong quantitative skills
14:56from undergraduate majors.
14:57So in the past that we actually have a very broad students
15:01from very broad disciplines like mathematics, statistics,
15:05psychology, pharmaceuticals, and biological sciences.
15:12So we actually welcome few students
15:16from very broad background.
15:22And so the minimum requirement for application in
15:25the MPH program is including the
15:26college level low key average
15:28calculus and linear algebra.
15:32So we also looking for students that if students have
15:37experienced with statistical programming,
15:40such as R, SAS and Python,
15:42these skills will be a plus in your application,
15:46but this is not required to our curriculum. Also,
15:50I also designed that to enhance your
15:51statistical programming skills you know, program.
16:01So not, I want to emphasize here again,
16:03that for the MPH degree.
16:13So we are looking for students who have a
16:15strong interest in public health.
16:18Next slide, please.
16:24So the last that I said,
16:26what I'm going to cover is give a very brief overview
16:30about the MPH curriculum.
16:34So we require 20 courses for
16:41MPH degree in biostatistics. So, MPH
16:45co curriculum including four core courses related
16:50to public house, including foundation of epic module,
16:55couple of property house, social justice, and house equity,
16:59health policy, and health care system,
17:02are major health threats.
17:04So those are the four major core courses to learn,
17:09to learn public health,
17:11We also have a required courses focused on
17:15best statistical knowledge and skills,
17:19including regression model, survival,
17:22statistical programming and progress area,
17:26and theory of statistics.
17:29We also have designed a year long statistical practice
17:34courses that can help our to students to enhance
17:40the applied practical experience.
17:43And also, this course that has been in the recent years
17:50has been used as a replacement for thesis requirement.
17:56So, the students is not required to complete thesis
18:01but if students are interested in it,
18:03we still provide options for students to, to write thesis
18:12Besides the required course
18:17we also, students who are, have
18:20to complete the eight unit electives
18:23that's approved by the registrar.
18:27A big component of the curriculum also includes
18:31summer internship that helps students to
18:36get exposed to real watch experience.
18:39All right. So, next that I'm going to pass faculties
18:44who are talking about more details about MS program,
18:50I want to emphasize that tomorrow,
18:53I'm going to at nine o'clock in the morning.
18:56So I'm going to give a
18:59separate information session for MPH degree,
19:02if you're interested in, more than welcome to attend.
19:08<v ->Thank you, Anita.</v>
19:11So I'm, my name is Maria Claralaglia
19:14I am an associate professor in the department.
19:16I'm going to talk about the standard pathway,
19:19which Steven mentioned is, is not really,
19:21you know, too descriptive of the name,
19:23that it was the original pathway.
19:25We recently added the data science and
19:28the implementation science pathway.
19:31So this is the standard or the original pathway.
19:36So depending on the pathway that you choose,
19:38they're either 15 or 16 required courses in the MS
19:42and bio statistics program.
19:44There are public health courses,
19:48not as many as the MPH degree,
19:51there are a departmental required courses,
19:54also approved electives, and then the summer internship,
19:58and also the optional master's thesis,
20:02which the practicum the year long consulting course
20:05sync replaces that master's thesis,
20:09although you're still able to do one, and it is encouraged,
20:12strongly encouraged for implementation science students.
20:16So you see that we have for the MS degrees,
20:19no matter the pathway you choose,
20:22there are just two required public health courses,
20:23one in epidemiology,
20:25and then one in frontiers of public health.
20:28There are different departmental required courses
20:31and approved electives,
20:32depending on the pathway that you choose.
20:36And you choose your pathway after you choose to come to Yale
20:41and either the traditional standard pathway,
20:41data science pathway, or implementation science pathway.
20:48And then we have the required summer internship,
20:50that's required of everyone.
20:54The traditional or the standard pathway gives students a
20:58strong foundation, core biostatistics courses,
21:04really the same required departmental courses as the
21:06MPH degree, they'll cover topics, including study design,
21:11statistical inference, regression methods, programming,
21:15and SAS, and R,
21:18and then the statistical consulting for
21:20the variety of electives to choose from.
21:23So you can really make it what you want.
21:27You know, you really hit, you have five,
21:30at least five electives that you can take, five minimum
21:33required electives for this pathway.
21:35But again, as Dr Ma mentioned,
21:37you have many courses available to you outside biostatistics
21:41in the statistics department, in computer science and,
21:46you know, in school management.
21:48So a lot of opportunities,
21:50and we really can make the degree focus on
21:53what you are interested in.
21:56It's really designed to train statisticians,
21:59to work in technology,
22:00biomedical research, pharmaceuticals,
22:04healthcare organizations, and then a lot of our students
22:06go on for doctoral studies and are very successful
22:09in getting into very good doctoral programs.
22:13So now I will pass it on to Dr. Kane,
22:17he'll talk about the data science pathway in the MS program.
22:22<v ->Thanks Maria.</v>
22:23Right. So my name is Michael Kane.
22:26I'm the director of the data science pathway,
22:29essentially for the data science pathway.
22:31There's kind of two parts to it.
22:34The first part is kind of how do you go from,
22:36from theorems to implementation, to algorithm construction
22:45so a lot of what we do then is understand kind of
22:48the mathematical properties of the objects
22:51that we're pretty interested in.
22:52How do we think about applying those to data
22:55so that we can extract information from them?
22:58And then how do we think about algorithms?
23:00So sequences of mathematical operations,
23:03actually build those models and then do predictions.
23:06So the other part is, kind of,
23:09is a little more software, is a subset of
23:11software engineering.
23:14So in that case, we're mostly interested in
23:16how do we build software systems?
23:18How do we go beyond kind of writing analysis to thinking
23:22about software that other people are going to use?
23:24How do we make that such that it's going to be robust,
23:26such that it can, and then it's going to
23:30be very usable for other people.
23:37So, yeah. Can you go to the next slide?
23:41So for the class that we have
23:44so there are two classes that are specifically
23:47better part of the data science pathway,
23:50along with the other courses that are available through,
23:53through the stats department.
23:55right now, I'm teaching the data science
23:57software systems class.
23:59And again, so it goes over things like, again,
24:01data analysis using our, you know,
24:04what are the tools that you want to use?
24:06How do you build software systems? in R,
24:09how do you communicate visual information?
24:11So visualizations, tables,
24:13and how do you think about constructing those
24:17such that you can to help collaborate with other people?
24:21So I can collaborate with clinicians
24:26on lately clinical trials,
24:27and I'm mostly interested in what prognostic heterogeneity.
24:31So who are the people that are coming to the trials and how
24:34do we expect them to do, given that they have a disease.
24:37So, along with kind of, there's some theory,
24:40there's some computing, but then there's also this,
24:42there's also this emphasis on collaboration since this is,
24:46this is interdisciplinary practice.
24:51So is there, is there a next slide?
24:54Okay. So yeah, that's it.
25:05<v ->Hi. Okay.</v>
25:06Well, I'm Donna Spiegelman.
25:08I'm the Susan Dwight bliss professor of biostatistics
25:12and I'm director of our center on methods
25:14for implementation and prevention science
25:16and our center, which is a little bit over three years old
25:20is a very unique one in the country, in the world,
25:24because it's the only center devoted to methods
25:27and implementation and prevention science.
25:30Now, some of you might be wondering,
25:32what do we even mean by
25:34implementation and prevention science and
25:36the basic idea of implementation and prevention science
25:40is that a very large proportion of deaths and
25:46disease that occur around the world, both in high income,
25:49middle income and low income countries is actually
25:52completely preventable by known interventions.
25:56We call them evidence-based interventions.
26:00And so we don't necessarily need more science,
26:03that is more discovery of new cures for diseases.
26:05That's not true for all diseases, but again,
26:08it's true for the majority of those
26:10causing health issues around the world.
26:13But the issue is of the uptake of these known interventions.
26:17There's a big gap between producing the evidence and
26:21actually disseminating it and scaling it to all of the
26:25populations that could benefit from access.
26:30So implementation science focuses on that, on that step,
26:34the implementation adaption scaling step.
26:37And of course, by doing that, we prevent disease
26:43and we promote health.
26:46So this is a growing field.
26:49There was recently an op-ed and the probably leading journal
26:53in, in the scientific community science,
26:57making the case for implementation science.
27:00And there are centers around the country and
27:03in other countries focused on implementation science,
27:05but none of them are actually focused on methods.
27:09So we play a very unique role in having the center
27:15and my methods, we mean essentially biostatistics,
27:17causal inference and other methods too,
27:21that are not traditionally a part of
27:23what we might think of in the quantitative sciences,
27:25which include advancing methods for qualitative research,
27:29which involves the idea of collecting data
27:33by talking to people individually,
27:36or in groups to find out why are they not taking up this
27:40evidence based intervention? It's not just patients.
27:44It's also providers, directors of health systems,
27:47policy makers, and so forth.
27:49And then there's also the whole issue of health economics.
27:54So we may have an evidence-based intervention,
27:56but is it cost-effective?
27:57and how can we improve its cost-effectiveness?
28:01So that's the big picture,
28:03but this program focuses on the quantitative side,
28:06which is the biostatistics and causal inference side.
28:10And so we have these, we have this unique pathway.
28:14It's the only one I know of that's exists now and
28:18has ever existed focusing on
28:20implementation and prevention methods.
28:24And so we have the pathway for the
28:26masters of science degree, as well as the PhD.
28:29And we welcome you to apply to either as your background
28:33and interests in qualifications, see fit,
28:36and to be a really strong implementation methodologist,
28:41you need to be a really strong biostatistician.
28:44So what we've done is the implementation science pathway
28:49is absolutely identical to what Maria
28:52was calling the standard pathway.
28:54What it does is it's a rigorous
28:58biostatistical training, plus
29:00and then the plus is that we have
29:03a few additional required courses.
29:06I believe it's two for the master of science
29:09and three for the PhD.
29:12One is the implementation science course offered in our
29:15epidemiology of microbial diseases department and gives a
29:20sort of subject matter overview of implementation science,
29:23and the background theories and frameworks that are used to
29:27motivate kind of structure implementation science research,
29:33and then causal inference,
29:35which we feel is absolutely essential for
29:37implementation science,
29:39where we're working out in the real world.
29:41Often very large scale studies of 100,000s
29:44of people using at when
29:46possible administrative data.
29:49There's all kinds of data messiness that occurs,
29:52there's issues with who's enrolling,
29:55who's dropping out,
29:56who we get outcomes for it so forth.
29:58So causal inferences are the foundational
30:01type of approach for
30:04implementation and prevention science.
30:06And then the other thing as has been mentioned is
30:09that we prefer very strongly
30:12that students in the master of science
30:15program do a master's thesis in place of
30:19the two semester consulting course.
30:21And of course the master's thesis will be motivated
30:25by implementation science projects that we're engaged in.
30:29And, but we'll be focusing on the methods.
30:33So it's, we're a smaller program.
30:35And It's almost, you might even say by design
30:39because we have four faculty,
30:41four primary faculty kind of who oversee this program and
30:45teach some of the required courses and mentor our students.
30:50And we worked very closely with you and
30:51we'll work very closely with you on your master's thesis.
30:54And so far, we've had great luck.
30:57Most of the masters, not even most,
30:59I think all of the master's thesis so far
31:02have been submitted for publication.
31:04And a number of them have been published,
31:06as been mentioned,
31:07our students have gone on to outstanding PhD programs in the
31:11United States and one in the UK and
31:15this kind of a program is for you.
31:19If you're interested in applying your quantitative knowledge
31:24to literally improve public health around the world
31:27and especially in disparities,
31:29disenfranchised populations and so forth.
31:33And so projects, we work on include things like
31:36increasing the uptake of cervical cancer screening
31:40and followup after abnormal screen,
31:43cervical cancer is almost a completely preventable disease.
31:47Yet let's say for example,
31:49the second leading cause of cancer mortality in Mexico.
31:52So in the United States,
31:54almost nobody gets cervical cancer.
31:56In Mexico, women who die of cancer`
31:59quite frequently are dying of cervical cancer.
32:02So this is what we mean by preventable diseases
32:06with evidence-based interventions.
32:08We're also working on stigma in cancer.
32:12We're working in Nepal, we're working in South Africa
32:14we're working right here in New Haven and there's
32:18a whole range of possibilities of projects.
32:21You can be involved in data analysis` or
32:24most of our students choose to work on
32:27methodologic research, which could include
32:29working out the mathematics of a particular problem,
32:34proving the properties of estimators, study design problems
32:40simulation studies, and so forth.
32:43So, and our PhD program again is
32:45identical to the standard pathway PhD,
32:49but we have these additional requirements that
32:51I've mentioned and will also involve
32:54the PhD thesis should be motivated by
32:57implementation science in some way.
32:59And then the last thing I'd like to mention is
33:03we're very excited that we have
33:05what's called a 2 32 or training grant from
33:08the National Institute of Health for our PhD program.
33:11We have three students already enrolled in that,
33:14through that mechanism.
33:16And for those of you who are US citizens
33:18or green card holders,
33:21which is the requirement of the
33:23U.S. NIH training grant program, it's not ours,
33:27but if you satisfy those criteria and
33:31you're interested in implementation science,
33:34also, we encourage you to apply and
33:36be in touch with me.
33:38And we can see about the suitability
33:41for you to come in through training grant,
33:43which covers your tuition,
33:45your stipend, and so forth.
33:47So I think I've pretty much given an overview of
33:50what we're doing with our implementation science pathways.
33:54I can pass it back to, I think it might be Maria or no,
33:59I think it's Cindy, Cindy brant.
34:02<v ->Actually it's me, but</v>
34:04<v ->Robert McDougal.</v>
34:06<v ->All right. Hey everybody.</v>
34:08So I'm Robert McDougal.
34:09I'm an assistant professor here in the department.
34:12So this is slightly different.
34:13This is a separate Master's degree.
34:15The other three things were pathways that you choose
34:18after you've been accepted into Yale.
34:20This is a separate program that you applied to,
34:22this is the Masters of Health and Dramatics.
34:25If you're not familiar with Informatics,
34:28just think of it as the study of how to
34:29represent, store, integrate and communicate
34:32information and how to apply domain knowledge.
34:35In our case health and public health
34:37to data to try and deliver new insights.
34:41So our program seeks to provide you with a broad training
34:44and information, science, data science,
34:47and clinical consumer health population, health informatics.
34:51You're going to learn how to use data,
34:54information and knowledge to improve the health and
34:55wellbeing of individuals and populations.
34:58And of course, you're going to get exposure
35:00to computational techniques.
35:03I'm definitely partly responsible for that.
35:05I teach a computational methods course, but you know,
35:09Informatics is so much wider than that.
35:12And our courses are going to also expose you to things,
35:14questions about data representation and the health,
35:17user centered design, clinical decision support,
35:20and more, you're not just going to be
35:22sitting around writing code.
35:23You're going to be working with data,
35:26thinking about data and thinking about
35:27how to apply it to solve problems.
35:29Can we go to the next slide please?
35:31All right. So what do you do to actually go into this work?
35:35It's a very diverse field, right?
35:36We're trying to do healthy things,
35:38trying to do computer things,
35:39we're trying to analyze data.
35:41And so one of the things that we do in particular
35:43for this master's program is we
35:44try to make sure that we bring in
35:46people with a wide range of backgrounds.
35:48And so the idea here is that we, you know, we've got,
35:51people with a medical degree taking this.
35:54We've got nursing students, we've got math students,
35:56we've got biology students. And by working together,
35:59we can all, you know, share a knowledge and
36:01everybody knows something and
36:03collectively we can grow much faster.
36:05So the main thing that I would say, you know,
36:08try to have some something health, computer science,
36:11mathematics, statistics related,
36:12but don't focus too much on that.
36:14Make sure that you're able, that you're good at what you do.
36:17And you're able to share your knowledge.
36:20Can we go to the next slide?
36:21So the degree here requires a total of 14 courses.
36:27So it is the same two public health courses
36:30as the MS and biostatistics.
36:33We do have, can you click?
36:35I think there's another, yeah,
36:36we do have eight required health informatics focus courses.
36:41And again, I just want to say point out that these are,
36:44you know, even if you're not taking
36:46the Health Informatics track,
36:48you're certainly welcome to take these courses
36:50and we invite you to do so.
36:53So these are going to cover some,
36:54some things are more computational, more data science,
36:57more conceptual, it's all there, more clinical,
37:03this huge range of things.
37:04And in addition to these eight required courses,
37:08we also have four additional
37:09and you can click two for this.
37:11We also invite you to do four additional courses
37:15more if your schedule permits and
37:19you can take these things from biostatistics,
37:21we've got computational biology and bioinformatics,
37:24lab statistics and data science,
37:25and really anything that's relevant from
37:28across the University.
37:30We can work with you to see
37:32if it's appropriate for this degree.
37:34Right. Thank you.
37:38<v ->Okay. I think I'm going to go first.</v>
37:41Hi everyone.
37:42My name is Mary Keefe. Can you all see me?
37:46Okay, good. My name is Mary Keefe.
37:49I am the director of admissions for the MPH program
37:52and I'm joining, keeping an eye on the clock.
37:56I know we want to be able to allow you all to ask questions.
37:59So I'm going to go through this a little quickly,
38:01but would encourage any of you with questions.
38:03I know we're giving you a lot of information today
38:06and can be a little bit confusing
38:06to reach out to me separately.
38:08If you'd like,
38:09I'd be happy to set up an individual meeting
38:12or answer questions via email.
38:13I will be on Anita's call tomorrow morning about
38:16the MPH program and biostatistics it's at 9:00 AM.
38:20And there was a registration link on our website
38:22that we hope you will a link through.
38:26We will also have a session on Thursday evening at 7:30
38:31with our current MPH students in biostats that may help you
38:35get an appreciation for what their experience
38:38is in the department,
38:40in the Yale school of public health and what it's like to be
38:42a student at Yale and living in New Haven.
38:45We found those can be really helpful, again,
38:46that there's a link to that in our website as well.
38:50So the MPH is offered through the school of public health.
38:55As Chris alluded to earlier,
38:57we have a separate application process
39:00than the MS or PhD program..
39:02Applicants who apply to the MPH
39:05must apply through SOPHAS.
39:07That is the schools of public health application service,
39:10all of your documentation and
39:12supporting letters of recommendation
39:14along with your resume and test score,
39:17TOEFL will be submitted through that portal.
39:23We utilize a rolling process of admissions.
39:26So we are actually going to
39:28start reviewing applications next week.
39:30And the deadline is December 15th,
39:33which simply means you have to submit all the information
39:38that the SOPHAS application asks for,
39:40pay SOPHAS and click submit,
39:42the supporting documentation can come in
39:44following the December 15th deadline.
39:48We will review applications probably
39:51all the way through February.
39:53And as you can see on the slide,
39:56we do require the TOEFL for applicants
39:57whose language of instruction was other than English
40:01in their degree programs.
40:03And we are looking for a score of at least 100 or better.
40:07We have waived the GRE requirement for our MPH applicants.
40:12This is our second year in doing so.
40:14However we do look for evidence of quantitative ability and
40:18that can, has, seems to be causing a lot of confusion.
40:21So information is on our website about that,
40:24but that is another thing we'll discuss tomorrow
40:27in our MPH session.
40:28And I'm happy to work on you with understanding what,
40:31how to clarify that I would like to make this point clear.
40:35I think Anita alluded to this earlier successful applicants
40:39to the MPH program do have to have a focus or interest area
40:45or question in public health that they're looking to solve
40:48and focus on in their studies.
40:51And you have to be able to articulate this
40:53in your personal statement.
40:55Your connection to public health is crucial to
40:58being a successful applicant to the MPH program.
41:01So be sure to concentrate on that and articulate that for,
41:06for us in your statement of purpose help.
41:09Sometimes, hopefully your letters of recommendation
41:12can help clarify that as well,
41:14but we will have other information sessions throughout the
41:18course of the year that you're welcome to attend.
41:20And these are all available on our website as well.
41:23So now I'm going to pass it over to Melanie Elliott,
41:25who is going to discuss the Ms and PhD application process.
41:31<v ->Thank you everybody.</v>
41:33So the. PhD program is a full-time program
41:36and students should apply.
41:40This gets a little confusing through the graduate school of
41:43arts and sciences to the department of public health,
41:45and then choose biostatistics as their concentration.
41:51Also for both the MS and PhD,
41:54you will be asked to choose a pathway
41:57at the time of your application.
42:00That said you do have until January, you know,
42:06the second semester of your first year
42:09to change the pathway.
42:11We just want to have some indication
42:13of the interest when you're applying.
42:16So you do have to also submit TOEFL scores,
42:21our policy for both the PhD and the MS.
42:25And this is the graduate school's policy is that
42:28if your undergraduate education was in English,
42:33you are waived from the TOEFL.
42:37And unfortunately for those in the PhD applicant pool,
42:41this means that if you have a master's from a US university
42:45or the university where English was
42:48the primary language of instruction,
42:50but your undergraduate was not in taught in English,
42:53you do still have to submit the TOEFL
42:56and the code is there 3, 9, 8, 7,
43:01the GRE is required for both the MS
43:04and the PhD in Biostatistics.
43:08It is not required for the MS and
43:10Health Informatics.
43:15Our MS Program, you can apply for the MS and
43:19the MPH program at the same time.
43:24And many, many applicants do that because, you know,
43:28they want to sort of get a sense of, you know,
43:32which program would be a better fit. And during the process,
43:35they can do some more exploratory research
43:38and make a better decision When they're admitted.
43:40You cannot apply for the PhD and the MS at the same time
43:44you have to pick one or the other,
43:48as Mary said that the application deadline for her program
43:51is the 15th of December. Ours is also December 15th.
43:55We do not review on a rolling basis.
43:58We review all at the same time and
44:04a couple of other things, the PhD program,
44:06our average time to graduation is five years.
44:11And as was mentioned earlier,
44:14our graduates all get positions in great companies
44:18throughout the United States and internationally also.
44:26So I think I've covered everything.
44:27I just want to mention for the MS and Health Informatics,
44:31that will be the same idea when you apply,
44:33you'll have to pick Public Health and then
44:36Health Informatics will populate as a choice.
44:40And you'll choose that.
44:42But again, if you have any questions,
44:43my name is on the website and
44:46I'm available to answer your questions on email or
44:48have a separate meeting. Thank you.
44:53<v ->So before we move on to questions,</v>
44:55I just want to really quickly thank my colleagues for
44:58very comprehensive information.
45:02And one thing I want to mention is
45:04even though we have different programs, different pathways,
45:07this is really one highly highly integrated program.
45:11So if you are in the data science pathway,
45:15you are welcome to do implementation science projects
45:18with Donna and her team and
45:21how you can definitely take courses in
45:24House informatics and also outside of the department.
45:30And, well, this is a lot of information.
45:32So we are going to let her post these slides and also our
45:36videotape.
45:38And I'm going to give the last 13- 15 minutes to questions.
45:47I think someone just typed in chat.
45:52<v ->Can you please mention the online executive program?</v>
45:59So that program is that program is different.
46:02It's offered through the school of public health.
46:04They also let's see.
46:07<v ->I can, I can address that a little bit Maria,</v>
46:09if you'd like me to
46:10<v ->That'll be great.</v>
46:11<v ->Okay, Yeah, that's a brand new program.</v>
46:14Actually. We have our first cohort enrolled now.
46:19We rolled it out last August and
46:24it is designed for working professionals.
46:27It is as the line implies and name implies, excuse me,
46:31and online program. It is a hybrid program.
46:34However, it's, part-time over two years,
46:36it requires three visits to the Yale campus
46:40for what we call Intensives.
46:42Those are five days of a program design study that take
46:46place two in the first year and one in the third year.
46:54It requires participation in evening discussion groups,
46:58which at this point are taking place
47:00at 8:00 PM in the evening.
47:04And it does have a focus in biostatistics and
47:08epidemiology is one of the tracks that
47:10you can apply for and enroll in.
47:15Currently, our cohort is about 38-39 students.
47:19We are looking to grow the program a little bit this year.
47:24One of the challenges, however,
47:26is that you have to be in residence in the United States
47:29during the full two years of the program.
47:33This has nothing to do with the School of Public Health.
47:36This is a Yale University requirement,
47:38and it has to do with taxes and
47:39things well above my pay grade.
47:41So we have not been able to open this program up yet,
47:45to students who are residing internationally.
47:48We will host some executive online sessions
47:52across the next couple of weeks,
47:54which you're welcome to join in.
47:56Also, it's a really unique program.
47:58So happy to answer questions separately from
48:01this presentation about that,
48:03for anyone who might be interested.
48:06I don't know if that's helpful,
48:08sort of a very brief overview.
48:10<v ->Yeah. Can I ask a question?</v>
48:14<v ->Yeah, please.</v>
48:16<v Joseph>Yeah. Currently I'm an Indian,</v>
48:18I'm currently in the Antigua. Island of Antigua
48:21in here in the Caribbean.
48:24And I did my masters in hospital administration.
48:29Currently, I'm attached with the medical school.
48:32American university of Antigua here.
48:35I'm working as a part-time facilitator.
48:38So will there be any course which is associated with the
48:41doctoral or the master's program, which I can enroll in.
48:49It can be a hybrid or a hundred percent online program.
48:51Is there any program like that?
48:55Like now you have mentioned that the online MPH
48:59the program is exclusively for those people
49:01who are residing in the US.
49:04I am residing in the Caribbean.
49:06And is there any program which is open for
49:10those people who are saying other than United States?
49:14<v ->Good question, Joseph.</v>
49:15Thank you for allowing me
49:18to clarify that at this point.
49:19No, we are working closely with
49:21the University or the program director,
49:25actually, and the office of international students
49:27and scholars, and some other groups to try
49:29and open it up for next year,
49:30but as for the following year for
49:32the admission process next year,
49:34which would be enrollment in the following year.
49:37So at this point, unfortunately, no,
49:39and as Robert McDougal did just remind me
49:41and put in the chat, thank you.
49:44There is a health informatics track for the executive MPH
49:47program, but at this point, unfortunately, no,
49:50we can only allow students who will be in residence
49:54for the whole two year term.
49:56And it's about just, just for you know,
49:58sort of planning purposes.
50:00It requires two, and
50:01at what we call two and a half courses per semester,
50:04in order to complete the program with a summer,
50:07start to the curriculum.
50:11So Joseph, that's something to stay in touch with me
50:13about over next year.
50:15We're working hard to get this, but it's beyond us.
50:17It's a University situation.
50:21<v ->I chose Yale only because my sister-in-law</v>
50:22is that in Connecticut.
50:27So frequently I'll be coming and going to connect together.
50:30It'll be easy for me to communicate with
50:31the University in person, even.
50:36So that was my concern
50:38All right.
50:41<v ->Yeah, can you rethink hands on?</v>
50:47<v ->Thanks. If I have two questions, one last one,</v>
50:51the first question is a wander for the PhD student
50:54in the biostatistics department,
50:57will it be possible for me to find a quarter wise
50:59from other departments, for example,
51:01the computer science or computational biology, since.
51:10<v ->Steven, did you want me to answer that?</v>
51:12Yep.
51:13Okay.
51:15We prefer that you only have one advisor
51:19for your dissertation,
51:20but when you do develop your research project,
51:25you will have a dissertation advisory committee.
51:28And on that committee,
51:30you can have faculty from other departments,
51:33as long as you know, their research aligns,
51:37and they will provide you with information
51:40and resources that aligns with your topic.
51:44But when you first start,
51:46the first two years are fully course,
51:48you know, full coursework.
51:50So you will be assigned to a PhD advisor,
51:53an advisor in the biostatistics department during that time.
51:57But as you move on to your dissertation,
52:00you can explore other people to mentor you.
52:03And then somebody asked a question
52:06about the fees for the PhD program.
52:09The PhD program is fully funded for five years.
52:14We provide you with a stipend.
52:16We pay your health insurance and your tuition.
52:20And the stipend is about 36,000 to 37,000 a year
52:28at this time for PhD students in biostatistics.
52:37<v ->Another question is along there, I mean,</v>
52:41what is the importance of the GRE exam in
52:44the application process.
52:47I mean, what condition will you use?
52:50Sorry, this is the score to evaluate applications,
52:53for example, after interview or at first, thanks.
52:58<v ->So, it's upon coming how we use GRE, has I referenced?</v>
53:06<v ->I'm sorry, Steve.</v>
53:07Who was that question directed to?
53:10<v ->Well, I know Anita, please.</v>
53:14So my understanding is we don't require GRE, but I,
53:19let me rephrase that question. So it's not required.
53:24Right. And so question is
53:26can student still take the exam,
53:28some made hand. Nobody. We still use that for information.
53:33<v ->Yeah. So are they, are we asking about the MPH program?</v>
53:37<v ->Sorry. I'm asking for the PhD program, right?</v>
53:43<v ->Chris, did you want to talk about that or?</v>
53:47<v ->Sure, sure. We do require the GRE, but</v>
53:53I would say that this is not a major factor to decide
53:58whether you are a fit for the program.
54:01What we really looking for is what I just said,
54:05that are you a fit for the program and do
54:07your research interests fit with the research interests
54:10or the faculty in biostatistics?
54:13That's the major criteria that we look at,
54:17and that obviously comes through in your personal statement.
54:22<v ->Okay. Thanks.</v>
54:28<v ->So Elizabeth, do you have a question?</v>
54:41Okay. And man.
54:45<v Man>Hi. Thank you.</v>
54:46So basically I have a question that I remember someone
54:50mentioned that if we apply through SOPHAS,
54:56our supplemental materials can come later than the deadline.
55:04Like, can I understand it in this way that
55:09if I have accumulated three recommendation letters and
55:14I want to add a reference letter after December 15th,
55:21it is possible, right?
55:23<v ->Oh, okay.</v>
55:24So thank you for, for asking that
55:27maybe what I said was a little confusing or misleading.
55:31No. In the section of the application where you're asked
55:35to provide letters of recommendation,
55:37they will ask you prior to the,
55:39or by the December 15th deadline to provide the names and
55:44contact information for the people who
55:46will be writing letters of evaluation or recommendation
55:49on your behalf.
55:51And then SOPHAS will send them information as
55:53to how to submit those letters.
55:55So all anyone that you want to have write a letter,
55:59well, you'll have to have provided the information to SOPHAS
56:03prior to the December 15th deadline, their letters,
56:07however can come in after that deadline.
56:09Is that how
56:11<v ->Cool. Cool.</v>
56:12That's very helpful. And so I have a follow-up question.
56:16So if not through SOPHAS platform,
56:19because I'm applying for PhD program.
56:22<v ->Okay.</v> <v ->Yeah.</v>
56:24Is it possible that through the Yale platform
56:31and I have meet this three reference letter requirement
56:35and I, I submit my application before December 15th, but
56:41I still want to add an extra recommendation letter.
56:48Is it possible?
56:51<v ->So did you already press the submit button for</v>
56:54your graduate school PhD application?
56:56Or are you still working on your application?
57:02<v ->I think, I think I had to press my</v>
57:05submit button before December 15th, right?
57:08<v ->Yes.</v>
57:09But if you want to add a fourth reference,
57:12if that's what your question is,
57:14and you haven't submitted your application yet to
57:17graduate school of arts and sciences,
57:20then you can go back in and add a fourth person
57:23as a letter of reference.
57:25But if you've already submitted your application
57:29and you know, basically said,
57:30you're done with your piece of it,
57:33then you need to email me and
57:35I need to work with graduate school
57:38admissions office to help you get that done.
57:41<v ->Okay. So,</v>
57:43so it means that I can add the fourth
57:49Professor's contact information on my,
57:52on my profile and submit it,
57:55and the fourth recommendation letter
57:57can come after December 15th, right?
58:01<v ->Yeah. The letters, you know,</v>
58:03you have no control over when the letters come,
58:06they are asked to be submitted by December 15th and
58:09we hope to get them no later than January 1st or second.
58:13You know, if your person,
58:16your reference ask for a couple extra days, you know,
58:22January first or second is fine after that, it,
58:26it is difficult for us to evaluate
58:29if you don't have a full set of references on file.
58:32But that said we would reach out to you
58:35if we wanted to try to get those references expedited.
58:39<v ->Okay. Thank you.</v>
58:41That's very helpful.
58:44<v ->So there's another question, Chad,</v>
58:47c'mon quick answer Maria Anita.
58:51<v ->So the question is,</v>
58:53is there a difference between gap year students or
58:56students who already have a master degree in
58:58terms of admission probability?
59:00I don't know those numbers.
59:03if we have information on students who've taken a year off
59:07and their chance of being admitted,
59:09if you already have a master's degree.
59:13Well, I don't know.
59:14It just really depends on your
59:15level of preparation, your background.
59:19If you already have a master's degree, you probably already,
59:22you know, coursework and maybe this area or a related area,
59:26but you don't,
59:28I don't think really would we have information on that,
59:32on those rates,
59:34the likelihood of being admitted under different scenarios,
59:38we wouldn't, it wouldn't bias our decision in any way,
59:41if you took a year off.
59:45<v ->Okay, it's now too.</v>
59:46I want you to thank all of you for our interest and
59:48also my colleagues again, for your time.
59:51And for all students interested in applying,
59:54please do so before the deadline.
59:57And if you are interested in talking to any of us
01:00:00and also our faculty who are not here today,
01:00:04you can find our contact information online.
01:00:06So just the drop an email.
01:00:09And if you want to talk to existing student,
01:00:11master PhD student, get some site information,
01:00:17you can also do that.
01:00:18We will be happy to make that connection. And again,
01:00:24we are going to post our slides and also this record.
01:00:28So really hope to see our applications and hope to see you
01:00:33in person next fall. Thank you to all.