Educating the Health 2.0 Workforce

As any new field of human activity evolves into something important, its original participants are drawn to it from a range of other fields and bring to it a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. For example, the original computer scientists were not schooled in computer science. The field didn’t exist when they were in school. The first generation of computer scientists were mathematicians, engineers, philosophers, among other things, who came together around shared interests in a set of challenging and important problems.

As computer science matured and proved its worth, however, something inevitable happened. Programs specifically to educate the next generation of computer scientists began to develop, and a range of questions arose about how best prepare them—how to combine math, engineering, philosophy into a new interdisciplinary program of studies.

Exploration of how to train its next generation gives shape to a new field, stimulates further growth and  innovation, and ensures that that the next generation will be large enough to support a thriving enterprise. So it is with Health 2.0—a new field that has attracted an eclectic group of energetic pioneers and is beginning to mature. It’s time to think about the next generation.

On September 26 at 4:15 PM at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Rooms 19-20, ‘Educating the Health 2.0 Workforce’ will bring together educators and interested others to consider how to forge a next generation workforce to support Health 2.0. What are the unique competencies that the Health 2.0 workforce requires to see the opportunities, and  to create the really smart applications and other resources that will revolutionize health? How should these competencies be acquired? What is the right mix of technology and health knowledge and skills (and other things)? Can innovators be cultivated? What educational opportunities exist now? What new opportunities are needed?

This will be an open discussion facilitated by Dr. Charles Friedman, former Deputy National Coordinator and Chief Scientific Officer for Health IT in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-and now Director of the University of Michigan’s new graduate program in health informatics.

To RSVP, contact the University of Michigan Health Informatics Program Manager, Meghan Genovese at [email protected].