Bioinformatics is the acquisition of biological knowledge through new computational tools for organizing, managing, and mining biological data. Bioinformatics techniques are essential to answer pressing questions about disease, and pharmaceuticals. The Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program is organized around two disciplinary tracks that have distinct, yet overlapping, faculty and curricular requirements: Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (BISB) and Biomedical Informatics (BMI). Students indicate their interest in one track, but are able to request a switch at any time during their study. For each Track there are four required Core Courses (generally completed within the first year) and 16 units to be chosen from a list of Elective fields to be completed within the first two years.