Coursera Launches a Healthcare Vertical, New Health Online Courses

Last month, Coursera and its university partners launched a new Health vertical, including some 100 courses and 30 Specializations rolling out in the coming months.

It’s a timely initiative. Demand for healthcare workers is expected to surge in the coming decade, fueled by an aging population, increasing incidence of chronic disease, and a resurgence in untreatable ones. By 2030, we’ll need 130 million healthcare workers, up from the 130 million we have today, according to an estimate by McKinsey [PDF].

With its new vertical and online courses, Coursera hopes to make cutting-edge healthcare education more accessible.

To help you navigate these new resources, we’ve created a list of courses in this Health vertical below. We’ll update this list over time, so be sure to bookmark this page.

Newly Added (Last updated April 30, 2019)

This section includes courses from Coursera's health vertical introduced after we initially published this article.

Partnering with leading universities

In total, Coursera has partnered with 15 leading universities to launch its health initiative. These include top-ranking institutions like Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Imperial College London, University of Michigan, University of Colorado, and University of Minnesota.

These institutions have a tradition of leading innovation in healthcare. They continue to do so here. The affordable online courses and content they produce here will help train a new generation of healthcare workers at scale.

On-ramps to a career in healthcare

Although demand for healthcare workers will surge, already there are shortages. Significant skill gaps exist in fields like Public Health, Health Management, and Health Informatics. Meanwhile, roles in Bioinformatics, Hospital Administration, Healthcare Management, Research, Policy, and Community Health Coordination remain unfilled in the face of a talent shortage.

Many of the online courses created for the Health vertical are meant to help fill these gaps. Learners may use them to prepare for a career in these fields. Moreover, they can also expect to equip themselves with in-demand skills without committing to a full-time program. Most of these courses are online-only and provide flexibility around demanding schedules.

Online Courses in the Health vertical

We’ve collected the courses we discussed in this article here so you can easily enroll in them now. You can also save these courses for later in your list or set email reminders for yourself on OpenCourser.

Transform Healthcare with Data Science

“Data is transforming the way that healthcare is managed and delivered. From genomics to bioinformatics, learn how to leverage data to help prevent epidemics, cure diseases, and cut down healthcare delivery costs.”

Lead and Manage Healthcare Systems

“Healthcare coordination is becoming more complex due to healthcare policy changes, demographic shifts, market fragmentation, and exploding costs. Start one of these Specializations to learn leadership strategies that help you make an impact on patient outcomes and the future of the health industry.”

Lead the Future of Public Health

“The world needs evidence-based solutions to public health challenges like the opioid crisis, obesity, and the spread of infectious disease. Get started with one of these Specializations or courses to build your expertise in a critical area of public health.”