It sounds as if there are several schools around the world to train future bioinformaticians and laboratory informatics professionals. It is only on the European projects I have been working on where I seem to run into graduates of such a program, and it always seems the person comes from the GPHY School in Poitiers, France ( http://www-gphy.univ-poitiers.fr ).
The graduates of this school talk enough about it and seem so tightly-linked with it, that I have finally become curious-enough to learn more about it. I figured I would share the information with all of you, at the same time. To learn more about the school, I spoke with Patrick Girard, who has been the school’s Director for ten years, and Claude Goldszmidt, GPHY Professor and Senior Consultant at Capgemini.
The GPHY School was founded in 1971. Although it was initially more geared toward engineering, it was always intended to provide a multidisciplinary curriculum, combining courses such as biology and computer science. The graduates are formed more as computer scientists, but with a strong scientific background so that they will specifically understand the issues of scientific software. The school was initially focused mainly on pharmaceuticals, biotechs and biopharms, but in 2000, it diversified to service an increased variety of other industries that are biology and health related.
90% of the students that come to GPHY have a background in Biology. The school’s success in placing their graduates comes partly from their hands-on approach to learning the discipline. Students are trained in real-life systems using professional methods, and are required to mix internships with companies along with their coursework. The students are required to spend three months of each year of study in internships for their first two years, and six months of internships for their third year of study.
Additionally, the school maintains a strong relationship both with the end-user companies, as well as the scientific software companies. In fact, many instructors are experts from the industry, who share their knowledge and first-hand expertise with these students. The school maintains links with over 500 French companies, and links with companies from other countries, as well.
Students are increasingly hired by both these categories of companies, as the school maintains ongoing relationships with these companies in order to understand what job skills are needed. Thus, the school maintains that their students, upon graduation, will have a shorter ramp-up time than students who did not receive this type of multi-disciplinary and work-study-type of training. It is the school’s goal to provide as much real-world experience and knowledge as possible to prepare their students to excel in their real-world positions.
Thank you to both Patrick and Claude for the time they gave to me to help me put this information together to share with all of you who read TheIntegratedLab.com.
* GPHY means: Genie Physiologics Informatics.
Thank you Gloria for this article summarizing the spirit of Gphy. As GPHY alumnus (2008), I would like to express my own experience during my 3 years at GPHY where a variety of courses was taught to me with great availability and proximity of the teachers (academic or professional). In the scope of my studies, various projects have been done very often with group working and with real companies; it was very motivating for me to say that these projects would be the same as I would lead in my future working life.
From one year to another, I became aware of my technical and interpersonal improvement and I’ve never felt bored.
I greatly appreciated this philosophy of learning.
Among the things that most attracted me to choose my studies at GPHY was the possibility to do my internships abroad thanks to GPHY’s contact list. It was for me an ambition or a kind of a dream of a foreign student from a Third-World country following her graduate studies in France and interested by an international career. In addition to realize my “French dream”, I could also realize my “American dream” and represent GPHY through my internship in USA (and Also in Belgium). My GPHY background (laboratory and LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System)) has really helped me to achieve my missions.
During my last year of the Master, I was fortunate to receive a sandwich course which helped me to get my first employment contract and learn more professional skills.
GPHY teachers support during the administrative phase (much more complicated for foreign students) to go abroad or to receive my sandwich course was greatly appreciated and always exceeded my expectations.
Today, I’m working in a large pharmaceutical group as IT Risk & Compliance Consultant on several areas (R & D, Clinical, Regulatory …) where I am in touch with GPHY’s alumni and previous business contacts during my previous GPHY projects.
I take this opportunity to thank all who have contributed to my success today.
The GPHY for me in few words: double skills, accountability, integration, openness, autonomy, dynamism…