Bachelor of Science with a Major in Health Data Science

Program Director: Ali Rahnavard

The bachelor's program in health data science offers an interdisciplinary degree that equips students with a comprehensive understanding of using data analytics, statistics, and machine learning to address crucial challenges in public health and biomedicine. This program focuses on managing, analyzing, and interpreting complex health and omics data, alongside providing a strong foundation in public health principles, health policy, and population health. Students gain expertise in applying data science tools and methodologies to real-world issues, including epidemic tracking, molecular epidemiology, health disparities, disease prevention, health promotion, and health services planning. The curriculum integrates modules on epidemiology, biostatistics, health informatics, biology, machine learning, and data ethics. Graduates are well-prepared for diverse career paths in public health departments, healthcare organizations, hospitals, biomedical research institutes, non-profit research institutions, and government agencies. They contribute significantly to data-driven public health initiatives and advancements in biomedicine. Through this program, students engage in real-world health applications and gain an understanding of the risk factors for public health and human diseases such as cancer and how infectious diseases spread and evolve.

Visit the program page for additional information.

Information on the admission process is available on the Office of Undergraduate Admissions website. Applications may be submitted via the Common Application.

Supporting documents not submitted online should be mailed to:

Office of Undergraduate Admissions
The George Washington University
800 21st Street NW, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20052

Contact for questions:

gwadm@gwu.edu or 202-994-6040

The following requirements must be fulfilled: 120 credits, including 24 credits in University General Education Requirement courses, 40 credits in health data science core courses, 15 credits in health data science guided elective courses, and 41 credits in general elective courses.

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Required
Health data science core courses
PUBH 1010	First-Year Experience in Public Health
PUBH 1101	Introduction to Public Health and Health Services
PUBH 1142	Introduction to Health Data Science
PUBH 2110	Public Health Biology
PUBH 2140	Foundations of Research Methods
PUBH 2142	Introduction to Biostatistics for Public Health
PUBH 2242	Natural Language Processing for Healthcare
PUBH 3131	Epidemiology
PUBH 3232	Health Data Mining
PUBH 3242	Health Data Visualization
PUBH 4201	Practical Computing
PUBH 4202	Bioinformatics Algorithms and Data Structures
STAT 2183	Intermediate Statistics Lab/Packages
STAT 4157	Introduction to Mathematical Statistics I

Electives

56 elective credits are required for this degree, including 15 credits in guided electives and 41 credits in general electives. The courses listed below have been identified as highly relevant to the BS curriculum. Guided elective courses must be selected from this list in consultation with the advisor. Courses on this list also can be used as general electives. Most courses offered by GW can be taken as general electives. Students should consult their advisor to help select general elective courses

Health data science guided electives

Students should review the Bulletin for the most up-to-date information regarding credits earned during study abroad, at non-GW institutions, or in independent study, research, or Lifestyle, Sport, and Physical Activity (LSPA) courses. 

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Biochemistry
BIOC 3820	Bioinformatics and Computational Biochemistry
Biological sciences
BISC 1111	Introductory Biology: Cells and Molecules
BISC 1112	Introductory Biology: The Biology of Organisms
BISC 2207	Genetics
BISC 2213	Biology of Cancer
BISC 2214	Developmental Biology
BISC 2336	Introductory Microbiology
BISC 2583	Biology of Proteins
BISC 2585	Statistics and Machine Learning for Biological Data
BISC 3261	Introductory Medical Biochemistry
Biomedical engineering
BME 3825	Medical Measurement Laboratory
BME 4482	Medical Measurements
Computer science
CSCI 1112	Algorithms and Data Structures
CSCI 1121	Introduction to C Programming
CSCI 1132	Data Structures and Software Design
CSCI 1311	Discrete Structures I
CSCI 2312	Discrete Structures II
CSCI 2441	Database Systems and Team Projects
CSCI 3212	Algorithms
CSCI 3362	Probability for Computer Science
CSCI 4341	Continuous Algorithms
CSCI 4342	Computational Linear Algebra and Applications
CSCI 4364	Machine Learning
CSCI 4576	Introduction to Biomedical Computing
CSCI 4577	Biomedical Computing
Data science
DATS 2101	Ethical Life in a Digital World
DATS 2102	Data Visualization for Data Science
DATS 2103	Data Mining for Data Science
DATS 2104	Data Warehousing for Data Science
Economics
ECON 2123	Introduction to Econometrics
ECON 3105	Economic Forecasting
ECON 3148	Health Economics
Electrical and computer engineering
ECE 1120	C Programming for Electrical and Computer Engineering (Electrical and computer engineering)
ECE 1125	Data Structures and Algorithms for ECE
ECE 3220	Introduction to Digital Signal Processing
ECE 3225	Signal and Image Analysis
Mathematics
MATH 1231	Single-Variable Calculus I
MATH 1232	Single-Variable Calculus II
MATH 2184	Linear Algebra I
MATH 2233	Multivariable Calculus
MATH 3125	Linear Algebra II
MATH 3342	Ordinary Differential Equations
MATH 3359	Introduction to Mathematical Modeling
MATH 3553	Introduction to Numerical Analysis
MATH 3740	Computational Complexity
MATH 4239	Real Analysis I
MATH 4240	Real Analysis II
Mechanical and aerospace engineering
MAE 1117	Introduction to Engineering Computations
Physics
PHYS 3100	Math Methods for Physics
PHYS 3181	Computational Physics
Chemistry
CHEM 3165	Biochemistry I
Public health
PUBH 3201	Introduction to Bioinformatics
PUBH 3202	Introduction to Genomics
PUBH 3136	Health Law
or PUBH 3151	Current Issues in Bioethics
PUBH 3995	Undergraduate Research in Public Health
PUBH 4199	Independent Study (Capstone project)
Statistics
STAT 2118	Regression Analysis
STAT 2123	Introduction to Econometrics
STAT 3119	Design and Analysis of Experiments
STAT 4158	Introduction to Mathematical Statistics II
STAT 4181	Applied Time Series Analysis
STAT 4188	Nonparametric Statistics Inference
STAT 4189	Mathematical Probability and Applications I
STAT 4190	Mathematical Probability and Applications II
STAT 4197	Fundamentals of SAS Programming for Data Management

BS graduation requirements

Students should review the Bulletin for the most up-to-date information.

1. Credits: Students must complete 120 credits towards their undergraduate degree.
2. Curriculum: Successful completion of required courses for the major.
3. Grades: Students must meet all minimum grade requirements.
4. Time limit: The degree must be completed within six years.
5. CITI training requirement: All students are required to complete training regarding human subject protection regulation and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
6. Integrity quiz and plagiarism requirement: All students are required to review the George Washington University Code of Academic Integrity and take the SPH Academic Integrity Quiz within their first semester of study.
7. Professional enhancement requirement: Students must participate in eight hours of public health-related lectures, seminars, and symposia, related to their field of study.

Combined programs

• Dual Bachelor of Science with a major in health data science and Master of Science in the field of health data science
• Dual approved Bachelor of Science Degree and Master of Science in in the field of health data science

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
SPH University General Education Requirement
One course in critical thinking in the humanities.
Two courses in critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, or scientific reasoning in the social sciences.
For exercise science and nutrition majors, this requirement must be fulfilled with one of the following: ANTH 1002, ANTH 1003, or ANTH 1004.
For public health majors, students are encouraged to take ECON 1011 as a General Education social science course, as it is a prerequisite for PUBH 3130.
One course that has an approved oral communication component .
For exercise science and nutrition majors, this requirement must be fulfilled with either COMM 1040 or COMM 1041.
For public health majors, students can chose any of the following pre-approved oral communication courses: AMST 2450, AMST 2620, ANTH 1004, ANTH 2502, CHEM 2118W, COMM 1040, COMM 1041, EAP 1010, ENGL 1365, ENGL 3918, FREN 2500, GTCH 2003, GTCH 3101, HSSJ 4195, ITAL 2600, ITAL 3330, PHIL 2124 or PHIL 2124W, PHIL 2134, PSTD 1010, RGSS 3400, SLHS 1011, SUST 2004, WLP 1020
One course in quantitative reasoning.
For exercise science and nutrition majors, this requirement must be fulfilled with one of the following: STAT 1051, STAT 1053, or STAT 1127.
Public health majors should avoid taking STAT 1051, STAT 1053, STAT 1111 or STAT 1127.
One course in scientific reasoning with laboratory experience.
For exercise science and nutrition majors, this requirement must be fulfilled with BISC 1111.
For public health majors, this requirements must be fulfilled with one of the following: BISC 1005, BISC 1006, BISC 1007, BISC 1008, BISC 1111, BISC 1112 or HONR 1033 Biology.
UW 1020	University Writing
After successful completion of UW 1020, 6 credits distributed over at least two different Writing in the Disciplines (WID) courses taken in separate semesters (summer counts as one semester) are required. WID courses are designated by a "W" appended to the course number.

 Approved courses can be found under University General Education Requirement.