The University of Chicago’s Biological Sciences Division will launch two master’s degree programs in the fall of 2026 to help prepare today’s leaders in health care, security and data science: an MS in Threat and Response Management and an MS in Biomedical Informatics.
Both programs were previously offered at UChicago’s Graham School, where they had an innovative curriculum and a long history of student success. The decision to relocate the programs aligns them more closely with the division’s faculty expertise in the rapidly evolving fields.
“These programs have a natural home within the Biological Sciences Division, which can further leverage faculty, labs and clinical partnerships to strengthen the kinds of training we provide students, support faculty research, and ultimately help advance the field,” said Samuel Volchenboum, associate dean of master’s education in the BSD. “My hope is that these programs continue to grow, adapt and prepare students to lead in their respective fields.”
Responding to real-world threats
For Assoc. Prof. Christine Babcock, co-director and an alum of the Threat and Response Management program, the program’s move to BSD’s Section of Emergency Medicine represents both growth and continuity.
“This transition connects our students directly with faculty and clinicians who live and teach emergency response every day. It strengthens the bridge between theory and real-world practice,” said Babcock, associate dean for graduate medical education.
The three concentrations in the program will allow students to focus their electives on specialized fields of study: cyber risk management, national security, and climate and environmental security.
Asst. Prof. Mike McCartin, co-director of the program, noted that Emergency Medicine faculty bring unique, hands-on perspectives to the program.
“Our faculty includes medical directors for regional EMS systems, specialists in disaster medicine, and experts in hospital preparedness,” said McCartin, a former Air Force pararescueman and current assistant director of UChicago’s Aeromedical Network. “That means our students can connect directly with professionals who manage real emergencies every day.”
Future offerings may include tabletop exercises, simulation-based training, and collaborations with city agencies, giving students first-hand exposure to large-scale preparedness operations.
Since its inception in 2007, the MS-TRM program has attracted a wide range of professionals, from first responders to policymakers. Students have included members of law enforcement, fire departments, emergency management agencies, health care institutions, financial services, and nonprofits.
The program’s hybrid format—meeting in person one weekend per month over two years—allows professionals to continue working while pursuing their degree. Second-year capstone projects expose students to real-world emergency response scenarios and have ranged from emergency operations planning for airports to improving response times for fire departments and analyzing school safety policies.
Focusing on data-driven health care
Biomedical informatics harnesses data—from electronic health records to genomic datasets—to improve health outcomes for individuals and communities. UChicago’s one-year master’s program will prepare students to apply data science, computing, and informatics tools to improve clinical care, advance research, and support decision-making across health care settings.
“The learningroom environment really benefits from the diversity of its student body,” said Volchenboum, faculty director of the program. “You might have a surgeon, a programmer, and someone working in healthcare operations sitting at the same table, each bringing a different perspective. That dynamic is one of the strengths of the program.”
Students complete a rigorous curriculum that includes core courses in programming, analytics, ethics, and leadership, along with electives that allow them to tailor their studies. Optional concentrations in bioinformatics or clinical informatics give students the opportunity to focus on genomic data analysis or the use of clinical data to inform patient care.
About 300 individuals have obtained the MS in Biomedical Informatics degree since the program was founded in 2016. While the program’s academic home is changing, much of the curriculum is staying the same—although the relaunched program will be delivered in a fully online, synchronous format, with classes held in the evenings and on weekends to accommodate working professionals.
“We have a very strong curriculum that we have refined over the years and an exceptional instructional team, and we felt that keeping that continuity was important,” said Christine Clark, MS’17, an alum of the program and director of graduate programs in the Office of Master’s Education in the BSD.
The course’s capstone experience—often cited by students as a highlight of the program—will remain a central feature, though it has been condensed into two quarters from three to allow students to complete the degree in one year.
“The capstone experience has really been a differentiator for us,” Clark said. “Students work on sophisticated, real-world projects, often with sponsor organizations, and some go on to publish their results alongside their mentors.”
—Adapted from articles published by the Biological Sciences Division.
