Is there any value in online education?

There have been many articles about whether online education is an appropriate way for a student to obtain a degree. I’m here to tell you that online education is an excellent way to earn an advanced degree in an advanced topic. I can make these assertions because I’ve just finished my Masters in Health Informatics through the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

I started the UIC program because I wanted to educate myself in how to leverage data associated with healthcare in my quest to improve my ability to contribute to the fight against cancer. Data, it turns out, is the primary vehicle by which one can research, diagnose, treat, and prevent cancer. Through my studies with UIC, I learned how to architect clinical trial management systems, use data to drive operational business intelligence, and leverage data through business intelligence and big data technologies to improve our ability to predict public health issues. Through my education at UIC, I’ve learned why predicting cancer is so difficult and how I can leverage my skills to improve our ability to target specific forms of cancers with specific treatments.

As a new graduate of UIC’s Master’s in Health Informatics program I am eager to leverage my 25 years of technology consulting experience and skills obtained through my MBA to continue supporting organizations like HIMSS in the quest to improve the capability of informatics to help fight the war on cancer. If you read this article, I invite you to post your experiences with online education and in particular your thoughts on leveraging information technology and informatics in the fight against cancer.