Introducing Data Science to Medical Students: A Workshop Adaptable to Undergraduates

This paper will show how to introduce medical students and undergraduate students to the world of data science with the use of a 6-week asynchronous workshop. The authors conducted this summer workshop in the largest medical university in Nevada introducing the medical students to R, RStudio and some preliminary topics in statistics. The workshop also led to three research projects with the medical students. Each project was with teams of at least 3 students and the authors. Details of the workshop, its learning objectives, teaching approach and challenges faced are provided in the paper. The students mentioned that they were able to employ the learned knowledge and skills in their research projects. This paper intends to provide a roadmap for faculty who wish to implement such workshops for both undergraduate mathematics and non-mathematics majors.