Modern medicine depends very heavily on computers and information technology.  For example, GPs use computers to keep electronic patient records and detect drug interactions; hospitals use computers for image analysis (such as CAT scanners) and as "expert systems" to advise on diagnosis and treatment; and health authorities use computers to monitor care quality and identify where the health care system is not performing well.  Computers are also essential for medical and biomedical research, such as developing new drugs.  The Human Genome Project would have been impossible without computers.

 Effectively developing and using information technology in medicine requires people with a background in both fields, who are comfortable talking about bio molecules, cells, clinical medicine on the one hand, and databases, mathematics and programming languages on the other hand.  Currently there are relatively few people who have such knowledge, and they are much in demand in academia, industry, and the health service.  The goal of the BSc Bio-Medical Computing Science, the only degree of its kind, is to educate students in both medicine and computing science, so that they can contribute to the research, development, and use of Bio-Medical Computing Science.

 Level 1

First year students are introduced to the principles of computing science through two courses on Internet Information Systems and Introductory Programming in Java. 

The biological underpinnings of modern medicine are introduced by means of courses in Molecular and Cell Biology and Organisms and their Environments. Finally, students take one course in Mathematics and one other course agreed with their Advisor of studies.

Second year students continue to study core computing science topics, via courses on Databases, Data Structures and Algorithms, Human Computer Interaction, and Computer Organization and Interfacing.  On the medical side, human biomedicine is introduced via courses on Essential Animal Cell Biology and The Anatomy of Human Organ Systems. Students also receive further exposure to Applied Mathematics.

Third Year students study the software development process through the year-long Software Engineering course, which emphasizes team work as well as the technical issues of software development.  Other computing courses cover the topics of Operating Systems, Distributed Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and Discrete Methods. In addition students take a course on Signals and Systems which provides the foundation for the analysis of data in bio-medicine.

Fourth Year students work on a project in Bio-Medical Computing Science during the entire year. This may be in collaboration with biological or clinical groups, Taught courses focus on the topics of Knowledge Technologies and Medical Image Interpretation; there is also a Bio medically oriented course on e-Science, which focuses on the application of e-Technologies to acquisition, interpretation and application of biomedical data. Students also select from a set of optional courses on advanced computing and medical topics.