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Ask HN: Can I get into machine learning research after getting my medical degree?

4 points by med_guy 12y ago

Long story short: I realized I'm not into clinical medicine at the final year of med school (now), and I decided to go for a PhD instead of residency. Since programming has been my hobby since I was a kid, and since I'm deeply interested in learning computer science, I decided that I should seek a field that combines medicine with computer science. I realized artificial intelligence in medicine is a very promising field and I'm wondering if it's even possible for me to get into it considering I have no formal training in computer science, mathematics, or statistics. Any advice on how to proceed with this? P.S. I'm highly motivated and great at self learning and I can devote a lot of time learning from books and online sources if needed.

gtani 12y ago
sure, there's 2 sides, the maths and the programming/systems ________ the math is mostly the same math that physics and EE majors do for first 2 years, plus probability/stats: https://www.seas.harvard.edu/courses/cs281/#schedule https://www.seas.harvard.edu/courses/cs281/#schedule http://www.zipfianacademy.com/blog/post/46864003608/a-practical-intro-to-data-science http://www.zipfianacademy.com/blog/post/46864003608/a-practi... http://fastml.com/math-for-machine-learning/ http://fastml.com/math-for-machine-learning/ ________ the general purpose programming languages mostly used are python, C++, java, and the statistical languages include R, matlab. there's lots of good threads at /r/machineLearning, including http://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/2i68f0/tackling_mathematics_in_machine_learning/ http://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/2i68f0/tack... http://www.reddit.com/r/compsci/comments/2jw14w/which_fields_of_mathematics_are_most_relevant_to/ http://www.reddit.com/r/compsci/comments/2jw14w/which_fields... also some books for people who haven't the rigorous math background yet are Intro Statistical Learning (James et al), the ones by Peter Flach, Steven Marsland, and Witten/Franke: http://www.amazon.com/Data-Mining-Practical-Techniques-Management/dp/0123748569/ http://www.amazon.com/Data-Mining-Practical-Techniques-Manag... http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Learning-Algorithmic-Perspective-Second/dp/1466583282/ http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Learning-Algorithmic-Perspecti...
- med_guy 12y ago
  This is very helpful. Thanks a lot!
  - gtani 12y ago
    If you can get through Organic and P. Chem, you can get thru this stuff!
heatherbowerman 12y ago
take a look at enlitic - heather at enlitic dot com