Health IT Program Gets New Home In Hackerman Building

Nationally recognized program will bring expanded opportunities to students and health care workers in the new building.

AUSTIN, Texas—The College of Natural Sciences Health Information Technology program, held up as a national model for health IT education by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, has a new home starting June 1.

The program has been allocated classroom space in the Norman Hackerman Building, a new science research and teaching building on The University of Texas at Austin campus.

"The new Hackerman building gives us the opportunity to make health IT a permanent part of our educational programs," said Mary Ann Rankin, dean of the College of Natural Sciences.

The on campus facility will enable the program to serve undergraduates as well as post-baccalaureate students, health care workers, people changing careers, and others seeking certifications within the health IT field.

The one-year-old Health IT program had been temporarily using space at the Clinical Education Center (CEC) at University Medical Center Brackenridge, which is part of the Seton Family of Hospitals.

Seton and The University of Texas at Austin will continue to partner in the coming years, with the university offering health IT training sessions for physicians affiliated with Seton as well as other hospital networks.

"We look forward to working with health care providers and industry partners to make our new space in the Hackerman building a state-of-the-art facility," said Sacha Kopp, associate dean for curriculum and programs in the College of Natural Sciences.

The college will again offer a health IT post-baccalaureate certificate program for College of Natural Sciences majors this summer, with a goal of educating up to 100 students prepared to enter the workforce by later in the fall.

The cohort from last summer’s program is already nearly fully employed, with 90 percent successfully placed in jobs in the growing health IT sector.

"We will be creating a new laboratory in the Hackerman building that will expose students and workers in the field to what the physician's office of the 21st century will look like," said Leanne Field, director of the Health IT program. “And the central location on campus will be of great benefit to our program participants.”

For more information contact: Sacha Kopp, associate dean, 512-232-0677, kopp@hep.utexas.edu