New Health Geoinformatics Lab for Undergrads at Loma Linda University

Loma Linda opens health ‘geoinformatics' laboratory

Students interested in public health and wanting to learn how computerized mapmaking and data analysis software can be used to improve the health of populations around the world will be able to take training at the newly opened Health Geoinformatics Laboratory at Loma Linda (Calif.) University.

The lab was opened in partnership with ESRI, a Redlands, Calif.,-based developer of geographical information systems software, according to a news release Tuesday by the software developer.

The lab “will provide undergraduate and graduate students with hands-on experience in applying modern information system technologies that combine maps and satellite imagery with data about the geographic locations of diseases, healthcare resources and socio-demographic characteristics of communities,” according to the release.

Undergraduate students will be able to earn Bachelor of Science degrees in public health, health geographics and biomedical data management while students with graduate degrees will be able to add certificates in health geoinformatics, environmental health, global health and development, and spatial epidemiology. The lab is part of the recently completed, $85 million Centennial Complex at the university. — Joseph Conn / HITS staff writer

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