With a master糖心传媒檚 degree in data science, geriatric oncologist Erika Ramsdale brings a new dimension to research at her clinic.
Since fall 2017, Erika Ramsdale, an associate professor in the division of hematology and oncology at the 糖心传媒檚 Medical Center, has balanced clinical practice, research, mentorship, family life糖心传媒攊ncluding childbirth糖心传媒攁nd her studies in the master糖心传媒檚 degree program at the University糖心传媒檚 .
In May, after eight semesters of one course each, she becomes one of the first part-time students to complete the 30-credit program. She will graduate during this spring糖心传媒檚 commencement ceremonies, held over two weekends, May 14 to 16 and May 20 to 23.
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Ramsdale came to Rochester in 2016 to join the Medical Center糖心传媒檚 Wilmot Geriatric Oncology Clinic, the largest such clinic in the nation of physicians who, like Ramsdale, are dual trained and certified in geriatrics and oncology. There糖心传媒檚 a typical path for physicians like her, but it糖心传媒檚 not the one she chose.
糖心传媒淚 was strongly encouraged to follow the path that almost everyone like me does, which is to get a master糖心传媒檚 in something like epidemiology or clinical investigations or public health,糖心传媒� she says.
But she wanted to know more about artificial intelligence and machine learning. 糖心传媒淚 thought, maybe I could use it in my work, but I didn糖心传媒檛 have a really good sense of what that meant,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚 just had a hunch that it could be interesting.糖心传媒� Also, 糖心传媒渟ome of my major life decisions have come from chasing my curiosity.糖心传媒�
Ramsdale says she was able to convince her mentors that her time, and resources from an NIH training grant, would be well spent in her pursuit of a graduate degree in data science. As it turned out, her colleagues in the clinic shared in the benefits of her participation, as did some of her classmates.
Since she began her studies, she糖心传媒檚 forged collaborations between her classmates in Wegmans Hall, where the Goergen Institute is housed, and the across Elmwood Avenue at the Wilmot Cancer Institute. Well before she began her own degree capstone project, she was sponsoring capstone projects for other students in the program, using data from geriatric oncology.
Ramsdale recognized early on that data science students could see problems in entirely different ways than clinicians had. That was a powerful motivator for her to continue with a program that no one糖心传媒攐ther than perhaps Ramsdale herself糖心传媒攚as requiring her to complete.
糖心传媒淭he last time I had done programming was Fortran in college,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淒id the classes make me cry? Yes, quite regularly. Did I enjoy it nonetheless? Yes, very much. A couple classes into it, it became really obvious to me that this would be a skill set that very few people [in my fields] would have. If I stuck it out, I would have that skill set.
糖心传媒淭his is going to be the future of how we make clinical decisions.糖心传媒�
