Big Data and Digital Health

Health data analysts take data from a range of sources including electronic health records, medical images, government records and smart devices, and employ advanced techniques to reveal underlying trends and anomalies. From this, they can produce the evidence needed to drive better decisions in health policy, clinical practice and population health.

This course is suited to healthcare workers as well as graduates from a broad range of disciplines who wish to enter the field of data analytics. You’ll start with an introduction to biostatistics and learn how big data is generated, communicated and governed in the health setting.

Following on, you will undertake an advanced unit in machine learning techniques – where big data is used to make decisions – and one optional unit. 

Although the focus is on applications of big data in health, the skills and knowledge you gain may be applied to other industries in which big data has become crucial to strategic decision-making.

Why study

• You’ll be learning in an environment where big data is being used to solve pressing healthcare issues. Our researchers have made major breakthroughs in the detection of breast cancer using artificial intelligence, and the improved the prediction of stillbirths using machine learning.
• You can gain practical experience through spending time at our partner organisations, including the Department of Health WA, WA Primary Health Alliance and the Country Health Service, where you can explore data to answer real world questions.  

Career information

Careers

• Health data analyst
• Health economist
• Researcher
• Statistician/biostatistician.

Industries

• Healthcare
• Health policy
• Population health
• Health promotion.

What you'll learn

• identify existing big data sets with a potential to provide strategic insights into a health issue.
• apply knowledge in key areas of big data, visualisation, governance and machine learning to ensure robust information for strategic decision making in health.
• communicate health data effectively including visualisations to audiences from the lay public to technical professionals.
• ensure ethical utilisation of data from public and private populations.
• demonstrate cultural awareness and sensitivity in local and international contexts; recognise the importance of communicating in a culturally respectful way.
• use technologies that are in high demand in industry.