Empowering professionals: An intensive short course on fundamentals of clinical data science

Clinical data science, like the broader discipline of all data science, has quickly grown from obscurity only a few decades ago to one of the fastest growing specialties in biomedical research today. Yet, the education and training of the workforce has not kept pace with the growth of the field, the complexity of science, or the needs of the profession. The purpose of this paper is to provide a template for an intensive short course on fundamentals of clinical data science that meets the needs of working professionals in academic, industry, and government research settings. Care will be taken to introduce students to essential roles, responsibilities, and practice patterns within the field, the foundational components from which they come, and many of the soft skills needed for professional practice and advancement in the field today. The course is designed as an evidence-based, immersive learning experience taught over a 5-day period on a university campus, taught using principles of best educational practice and multiple modalities, to assure optimal interaction and engagement throughout the week. This template may be reproduced by any institution interested in and capable of offering such a program.