New online Graduate Certificate in Health Data Analytics, offered by McGill’s Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, helps learners produce – and communicate – impactful health research
While working in clinical settings in Eritrea, South Sudan, and Uganda, Merhawi Kidane, MD, realized he wanted to be more than a physician. He wanted to contribute to health research that was relevant and meaningful for his patient population.
“My practice was in resource-limited settings, and the guidelines for our choices of treatments were mostly based on research results from advanced medical centres,” he recalls. “It was not very personalized for our patients or the population I was working with.”
Inspired to bridge this gap, Dr. Kidane sought out training that could help him conduct data-driven research that reflected his patients’ reality. That journey brought him to McGill’s new Graduate Certificate in Health Data Analytics.
Offered by McGill’s Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health (EBOH) since Fall 2025, the 10-month online program trains learners to clean, manage and analyze health data and present it clearly and reproducibly.
Comprehensive data analytics training for health research
Josée Dupuis, PhD, Chair of EBOH, says the graduate certificate “integrates biostatistics, computer science and health, and trains students to function at any stage of the health data analytics pipeline.”
The brainchild of Erica Moodie, PhD, the certificate has been over five years in the making, with critical contributions by Sahir Bhatnagar, PhD, and Alexandra Schmidt, PhD, in its planning and development. The launch in 2025 was truly a group effort. Supported by the exceptional staff from the Office of Online Education, Qihuang Zhang, PhD, and Philippe Boileau, PhD, led the production of the first three courses, and Andrea Benedetti, PhD, led the fourth. In addition, video content was contributed by all members of the Biostatistics faculty.
In Fall 2025, Elio Abi Younes, PhD, joined the team, putting a finishing touch on all online content and co-leading the fifth course with Prof. Moodie.
Abi Younes then stepped into a faculty lecturer role in January 2026 and now serves as the certificate’s director.
The program moves from covering programming languages that data scientists typically use, to statistical methods, inferential statistics and techniques, before moving onto statistical modelling and regression analysis.
In the final course, students complete a capstone project in which they apply what they have learned on a health-related data set of their choice.
Abi Younes says: “We cover not just the statistical methods, but the full scientific workflow – from asking the research question all the way to putting it in writing and communicating their findings.”
As a student, Dr. Kidane appreciated this thorough structure, which allowed him “to grasp not just the maths and computation.”
“It gave me the actual applicability of the subject matter to real-world health problems,” he says.
Prof. Dupuis says the graduate certificate’s focus on learning to clearly communicate research findings is critical.
“The statistician needs to learn to speak to the health professional, but the health professional also needs to be able to speak to the statistician or computer scientist,” she adds.
As its first cohort prepares for the final assignments, their new skills never been more relevant. Health data now emerges from a wider range of sources than ever, from clinical research to smartwatches and pollution sensors. The program prepares students to navigate the “messiness” of this data landscape, explains Prof. Dupuis, while providing the critical thinking skills to reach impactful conclusions.
Prepared for rewarding careers in health-related fields
Open to anyone with an undergraduate science or quantitative degree, the graduate certificate combines online teaching, weekly assignments and virtual office hours. Its first cohort comprised a diverse mix of clinicians and graduate students, ranging from those beginning their research careers to mid-career professionals seeking to enhance their data analytics skills.
Sabrina Ianni, PT, MSc, applied for the program to find a way into health data analytics while continuing her clinical work.
“Being completely asynchronous, I was able to manage my own schedule and keep up with the program, which was convenient for me,” she says.
Future graduates will leave the program with skills that are directly applicable in clinical research, public health, health technology assessment, health policy or pharmaceutical research.
“Based on what we teach, they will be equipped with the ability to clean, analyze and clearly communicate their findings from health data,” says Abi Younes. “This is something in high demand across hospitals, research centres, government agencies, insurance, pharma companies and academic institutions.”
As he prepares to finish the program, Dr. Kidane says he feels confident that the graduate certificate will help him be “a better doctor.”
“I’m not only going to be a clinician who sits at a table and treats patients. I’m going to be contributing to medical journals. I’m also going to be contributing to the policies for specific populations, guidelines and their treatment modalities.”
Students can apply for the Fall 2026 cohort of the Graduate Certificate in Health Data Analytics until June 30, 2026. Find out more and apply.