In article <l03102800b1beacba2244@[130.212.201.91]>, "A. M. Kiewietdejonge"
<amkiwi at sfsu.edu> writes:
|>|> Like Evan Coffield, I have asthma, which was diagnosed only last fall. The
|> great irony of my degree is I am so exquisitely sensitive now to most lab
|> chemicals I will never be able to do bench work. I have an interest in
|> bioinformatics, but am unsure how to proceed. It seems few institutions
|> offer bioinformatics degrees (the local exception being Stanford). Would
|> it behoove me to undertake such a project (assuming I could get accepted,
|> and financial aid of some sort) and get a PhD at nearly 40, or self-study
|> computer science and try to find a path that way?
Hello, Annette --
My husband has a B.A. in computer science and a job in genome informatics.
Bioinformatics seems to be a hot field right now, so you can find good jobs
without getting a PhD. Depending on your current computer experience, you
might want to consider a master's program in bioinformatics or computer science.
I know the National Library of Medicine funds a number of training fellowships
in medical informatics. (I get some of my funding from them, as well, through
a local center for computational biology.) Many universities with associated
medical schools or hospitals seem to be developing programs for medical
informatics -- I know Utah is supposed to have a good training program. If
you would find it helpful, tonight when I go home I will dig up the program
from the latest NLM annual meeting and email you the university affiliations
of those who did presentations in medical informatics. If you're pretty well
rooted to the S.F. area, Stanford is probably your best bet, but there may be
other California schools with informatics programs.
Good luck! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email
me (alfrey at rice.edu) or, better yet, for specific bioinformatics questions
you might try emailing my husband, Andy Arenson (arenson at bcm.tmc.edu). He
can probably give you a better idea of the types of skills (computer and
otherwise) needed for the kind of informatics work he does, which may help
you decide how to proceed in your education & job search.
Hope this helps!
Karen Alfrey
alfrey at rice.edu
