Students & Early Career
New to health data science? Start here.
Whether you just declared your major or started your first job, ASHDS helps you find your path, your people, and your first opportunity.
Explore career paths
See what analysts, engineers, and informaticists actually do, and what they earn.
Get a mentor
Get matched with a working professional for a semester of monthly calls.
Join a student chapter
Chapters on 40+ campuses, or start your own with our kit.
Scholarships & travel grants
$5,000 scholarships and paid trips to the Annual Symposium.
Find an internship
Paid internships and truly entry-level roles, open to non-members.
Compete & present
Student Data Challenge, poster contest, and the Rising Star award.
Membership
Priced for students
Student $25 / year
Verified with your .edu email. Full journal access, Resource Hub, and 50% off the CAHDS exam.
Recent Graduate $95 / year
For your first two years after graduation. Everything in Student, plus member pricing on courses.
Student Ambassador Free
Represent ASHDS on campus, run events, and earn a letter of recommendation from our CEO.
Just declared?
Which courses should I take?
Programming
- Intro to Python or R
- Data structures
- SQL / databases
Statistics
- Probability
- Regression modeling
- Biostatistics or epidemiology
Health foundations
- U.S. health care systems
- Medical terminology
- Public health or health policy
Data science
- Machine learning
- Data visualization
- Ethics of AI and data privacy
Want a head start? ED-101 Foundations is free for student members.
Your first year
The CAHDS starter path
- 1
Join as a student and take ED-101 (free)
- 2
Complete one internship or class project with real health data
- 3
Use the CAHDS Readiness Toolkit and join a study group
- 4
Sit the CAHDS exam at 50% off — before you graduate
Student voices
From people who were just where you are
“I declared my major not knowing healthcare was an option. My chapter's mentor night got me my first internship.”
“The Career Center internships page was the only job board where 'entry-level' actually meant entry-level.”
“The travel grant paid for my first conference. I presented a poster and left with three LinkedIn offers to talk.”
Join 1,900+ students on the ASHDS Discord
Study groups, #internship-leads, resume reviews every Thursday, and @ashds.students on Instagram.