Find your passion. This is a phrase we hear a lot in college. It seems simple enough. Choose to study what you love most, right? But for many of us, this task is a lot more daunting than what it’s made out to be. It seems like we have one shot to choose the correct path because we’re consistently told, “You’re going to be doing this for the rest of your life.” As students, just learning about ourselves and starting to establish our life goals are extremely scary.
Maybe you love medicine so going to school to be a physician would be the perfect fit. Or maybe you have a natural knack for computer science and want to be a part of the continuous surge of technological advancements in our modern world. Maybe the fast-paced business environment sparks a fire in you. These career paths all seem great…for the very few of us whose passion is centered on one area of study. But what if your dream career is a mix of fields? Health Informatics at Pitt is a major that can give you the freedom to experience medicine, business and technology all together, one at a time or in any combination you can imagine.
Can you picture yourself at your dream job five, 10, 20 or even 30 years from now? Most likely you cannot because you never know how you’ll change and grow over time. A degree in Health Informatics will give you the freedom to alter your career path as your life progresses. There will never be a shortage of jobs in information technology because the field is advancing by the minute. For example, the pandemic has shown us how important it is for medical facilities to safely and easily transfer and store information. And, the cybersecurity of now popular virtual visits has become a prominent issue. These are just a few of the endless possibilities of paths to follow in Health Informatics.
So, what can Health Informatics mean to you? It can mean taking all the stress out of choosing the “right” field of study allowing you to choose three great fields all at once. It can give you the freedom to move around within your career and chase new niche interests you discover along the way. It can give you job stability because the communication, transfer and storage of health information will always be necessary. It can offer you an amazing college experience with welcoming faculty, and incredible extracurricular experiences that come with being part of the Pitt SHRS community. It means that you don’t have to stick to just one passion. Choosing HI means there is no limit to how much you can change who you become along the way.
Choosing to pursue health informatics at Pitt SHRS is choosing professional freedom, stability and unlimited potential for growth.
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Written by: Mara Hartoyo, Pre-medical student
Current SHRS student, Class of 2023, Rehabilitation Sciences