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Course objective & Qualification profile

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Study objective

The university course  is a continuing education program for graduates of medicine or other medical training courses and deals with the most important applications of digital data processing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics and the Internet of Things in the healthcare sector, etc.. The university program Academic Expert in Digital Medicine deepens the higher education of healthcare professionals in digital skills and improves their understanding of the design, use and development of digital technologies.
Digital health applications have significant growth potential and are one of the areas with the strongest societal demand for digital professionals. The program presented here helps to close this gap as part of an international training program.

This course is being developed as part of an EU Commission-funded project called “DS4Health”. Up to 300 students per year from all partner institutes (University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Tel Aviv University, Institute Polytechnic De Paris, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, University of Ioannina) of the international DS4Health consortium will be trained as new specialists in digital healthcare. Each university focuses on individual specializations in the curriculum, but a common basic framework allows students to transfer between the universities. This will significantly expand the already established EU-wide digital medicine programs through modular, collaborative curricula. Identification of needs, understanding of medical needs and procedural requirements in healthcare as well as processes and interoperability are key elements. The program will provide more opportunities for students to be trained in advanced technologies with a clear view on the digital transformation of healthcare towards a clinical digital ecosystem.

Qualification profile

The university course provides an in-depth, scientifically and methodologically high-quality education geared towards long-term knowledge, which enables graduates to gain further qualifications and employment in the following fields of activity, for example, and makes them internationally competitive:

  •  Digital medical consultation and patient care: graduates are qualified to use digital technologies in medical consultation and patient care. They can develop innovative solutions to improve patient care and promote the use of digital tools to support diagnosis and therapy.
  •  Health data management: Graduates are able to effectively manage and analyze health data. They understand the importance of data protection and data security in healthcare and can develop strategies for the integration, interoperability and processing of large amounts of data.
  • Clinical research in the digital age: The university course enables graduates to work in clinical research and apply innovative methods of data collection and analysis. They are able to understand study protocols, evaluate ethical issues and advance clinical research in the digital age.
  • Digital health startup foundation: Graduates have the knowledge and skills to put innovative ideas in the field of digital health into practice. They are able to found start-ups or develop and implement innovative digital health solutions in existing companies.
  • Management of IT projects in the healthcare sector: Graduates are able to manage projects in the field of healthcare informatics. They understand the requirements of the healthcare sector and can plan, implement and successfully realize IT projects, also taking into account the special challenges of vulnerable and diverse groups of people.
  • Consulting for medical software and technologies: Graduates:inside have a deep understanding of the requirements for medical software as a medical product and can lead a team to develop it. Since medical algorithms can also tend to reproduce social bias, the training will provide opportunities and tools to reflect on this bias and also to deal with it technically.
  • Graduates can act as consultants for medical software and technologies. They understand the needs of healthcare institutions and can recommend solutions that optimize the use of digital technologies in medicine.
  • Graduates acquire skills in the field of diversity in medicine and gender medicine and are able to assess the relationship between the core dimensions of diversity (socioeconomic status, ethnicity/origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, worldview/religion) and health status (in relation to the specialty area of the respective curriculum).
  • Graduates can interact and communicate respectfully with patients regardless of their socio-economic and cultural background, gender identity, age, generation, skin color, appearance, physical and mental abilities, sexual orientation, worldview and religion.

These exemplary areas of activity show that graduates of the “Digital Medicine” university course can work in both clinical and non-clinical contexts to drive forward the digital transformation in healthcare.


The university course is aimed at healthcare professionals with the aim of providing an understanding of the interface between technology and medicine. The focus is on how data is processed and which technologies are used in medical practice. The qualifications acquired are geared towards the following areas:
Technical and methodological knowledge:

  • Graduates have a basic knowledge of informatics, statistics and clinical research that is specifically tailored to the needs of healthcare professionals.
  • They understand how medical data is processed without the need for extensive programming skills.
  • Basic knowledge of bioinformatics enables an understanding of the analysis of genomic data and the application of personalized medicine approaches.
  • Students develop an awareness of the ethical, legal and social aspects of medical informatics.

Cognitive and practical skills:

  • Graduates are able to interpret medical data and develop innovative solutions for practical challenges in medicine.
  • They are able to understand and apply basic technologies such as telemedicine and image processing without requiring in-depth technical knowledge.
  • Practical experience in the context of internships enables the application of theoretical knowledge in medical practice.
  • An understanding of data security enables graduates to handle sensitive health data responsibly.

Social skills, innovation skills and creativity:

  • Graduates are able to think holistically and interdisciplinarily in order to develop innovative solutions for medical challenges.
  • They are able to evaluate ethical, legal and social aspects in medical informatics, take them into account in their professional context and reflect on social bias in algorithms.
  • The understanding of innovation strategies and project management enables them to actively participate in the further development of digital solutions in medicine.
  • Graduates develop independent and reflective scientific work in the context of thesis seminars and the Master's thesis with a clear focus on applications in digital medicine.

This qualification profile aims to provide healthcare staff with a basic understanding of digital medicine without requiring in-depth technical knowledge.