Medical Informatics
Medical Informatics is a discipline related to Computer Science that researches and develops information technologies for application in the health sector. It covers topics as diverse as hospital information systems, bioinformatics, image processing and telemedicine. Among the main aspects covered by Medical Informatics are acquisition and processing of patient data, for example from radiological images, ECGs, tissue or genomic samples; another key area concerns the development of techniques for archiving, distributing and providing such information in a manner appropriate for medical, nursing, research or healthcare management professionals. To highlight these different aspects, Medical Informatics is now often referred to as "Biomedical and Health Informatics".
All these aspects are reflected in the summer schools, diploma and master's degree programs offered by the University of Heidelberg through the HCLA and the University of Chile, within the framework of the Center of Excellence in Research and Teaching, a title awarded to the HCLA in 2009 by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). This training program is aimed at personnel in the fields of medicine, nursing, engineering, natural sciences, medical technology and public health management and administration.