Curriculum
Core areas of study in our Cybersecurity for Health and Medical Data Certificate program
You will build practical, job-ready skills to protect sensitive health and medical data in real-world environments. Our Cybersecurity for Health and Medical Data certificate focuses on applied cybersecurity through the following core competencies:
- Cybersecurity fundamentals: Explore modern threats, risk management, core security controls and the basics of security policy.
- Health care data security: Develop a “HIPAA-aware” mindset by mastering protected health information (PHI) safeguards, secure data handling and privacy-by-design practices.
- Incident response and breach management: Learn the lifecycle of a breach, including detection, triage, containment, recovery and post-incident reporting.
- Digital forensics essentials: Understand evidence collection, log analysis, chain of custody and foundational investigation workflows.
- Network and distributed systems security: Learn techniques for securing communication, authentication, access control and network defenses.
- Vulnerability assessment and ethical hacking fundamentals:
Gain hands-on experience identifying weaknesses, prioritizing fixes and performing safe testing.
- Secure data systems:
Address common cloud risks, data protection strategies and secure architectures for big data and cloud foundations.
- AI and analytics in cybersecurity: Gain an introduction to how machine learning and analytics support automated threat detection, monitoring and response.
- Legal, ethical and professional practice: Navigate responsible disclosure, compliance considerations and cybersecurity decision-making.
Courses
Course Requirements
Total Credits: 9
Total Courses: 3
Required Course (1):
- MSCA 525 – Introduction to Cybersecurity
Electives (choose two):
- MSCA 550 – Digital Forensics & Ethical Hacking
- MSCA 560 – Distributed Systems & Network Security
- MSDS 740 – Big Data Privacy & Security
- MSDS 655 – AI in Cybersecurity
- MSDS 575 – Ethics in Data Science
- MSBD 740 – Privacy & Security in Health care
Build on your classroom experience through practical, portfolio-ready projects grounded in real-world healthcare cybersecurity scenarios.
Example projects include:
- Simulated HIPAA Breach Investigation: Perform end-to-end incident response, including triage, containment, recovery and reporting.
- Healthcare Phishing and Credential Theft: Execute a case study involving email analysis, user awareness controls and remediation planning.
- Ransomware Readiness: Develop a backup strategy, recovery playbook, and tabletop exercise for a clinic or small hospital.
- Digital Forensics Mini-Lab: Conduct log analysis, timeline reconstruction, and evidence handling while maintaining a chain of custody.
- Network Security Hardening: Implement segmentation, firewall rules and secure remote access for a health system.
- Vulnerability Assessment: Scan a mock health care web portal, prioritize findings and create a patch verification plan.
- Identity Controls for EHR Systems: Apply MFA, least privilege, and role-based access to electronic health record (EHR) systems.
- Data Privacy Design: Establish de-identification approaches and risk analysis safeguards for medical datasets.
- Cloud Security Baseline: Audit health care workloads for secure storage, encryption, monitoring and misconfiguration checks.
- Threat Modeling for IoMT: Map the attack surface and design mitigations for the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT).
Capstone Emphasis: Each student completes an end-to-end applied project that includes technical artifacts and an executive-style briefing. This allows you to show a hiring manager your ability to translate complex technical risks into business-level solutions.
Career Outlook
The Cybersecurity for Health and Medical Data Certificate prepares learners for high-demand roles dedicated to securing health care environments and protecting sensitive medical information. Graduates gain practical skills in threat response, secure systems, privacy-focused security controls and technical communication.
Career pathways may include roles such as:
- Cybersecurity Analyst: Monitor and defend healthcare networks against evolving cyber threats.
- SOC Analyst: Work within a Security Operations Center to identify, prioritize and mitigate security incidents in real time.
- Health IT Security Specialist: Bridge the gap between clinical operations and data protection to ensure secure patient care.
- Privacy and Compliance Analyst: Ensure organizational adherence to HIPAA and other critical data-privacy regulations.
Market Demand and Growth
The need for security expertise is at an all-time high:
- Explosive Job Growth: Employment for information security analysts is projected to grow 29% through 2034, significantly faster than the average for all occupations.[1]
- Critical Skill Gaps: Approximately 88% of cybersecurity professionals report that a shortage of specific skills—particularly in AI and cloud security—has led to significant security consequences for their organizations.[2]
- The “Privacy Crisis”: In 2025 alone, over 60 million individuals were affected by health care data breaches, underscoring the urgency for stronger cybersecurity governance in the sector.[3]
Data Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): Occupational Outlook Handbook, Information Security Analysts. Data reflects the 2024–2034 projection cycle, updated January 2026.
- ISC2 2025 Cybersecurity Workforce Study: “The State of the 2025 Cyber Workforce: Skills Gaps, AI Opportunity and Economic Strain.” Survey of 16,000+ global professionals highlighting the impact of skill shortages on organizational security.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) / HIPAA Journal: December 2025 Healthcare Data Breach Report. Cumulative analysis of 2025 hacking incidents and unauthorized disclosures reported to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
Applicants should meet the following requirements:
- Educational equivalent of at least a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited university in the U.S.
- All students should have a working knowledge of all aspects of Microsoft Office; and should be familiar with Internet access and usage.
- Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.75 on undergraduate work with a minimum of a “B” (GPA of 3.00) in undergraduate Calculus, Elementary Statistics, or their equivalents.
If you meet one of the above requirements, you may begin the admissions process.
Application timeline
Applicants can apply to begin our programs in the Fall Semester, starting in August, or Spring Semester (starting in January). While we accept students on a rolling basis, the following dates serve as application deadlines for the semester.
Fall 2026 priority application deadline
- May 30, 2026: Priority deadline for application.
- All materials outlined in Step 2 of the applicant process are due by June 13, 2026.
Spring 2027 priority application deadline
- September 30, 2026: Priority deadline for application.
All materials outlined in Step 2 of the applicant process are due by October 15, 2026.
- Please contact the Office of Enrollment Management about applying after these deadlines.
Each applicant must complete the following:
Step 1
Complete an application.
That application will include the following:
- Personal statement: The School of Applied Computational Sciences (SACS) wants to know (1) your personal and career goals, and (2) how the graduate certificate program will contribute to the achievement of your goals via the personal statement form.
Step 2
- Official transcripts: Please ask your institution to send official transcriptsdirectly to the Office of Enrollment Management. We prefer to receive an electronic transcript and the institution can email it to sacsenrollment@mmc.edu.If the institution prefers to mail transcripts, please use this address:
Office of Enrollment Management, School of Applied Computational Sciences,
Meharry Medical College,
3401 West End Avenue
Suite 260
Nashville, TN 37203
Get Prepared
Are you interested in this program but need to improve your programming, or statistics other skills? Contact us at sacsadmissions@mmc.edu or complete the request information form to learn about courses you can take to prepare you for either program.
Program Contact
Jayla Stallworth, PHR
Student Recruitment and Admissions Specialist
jayla.stallworth@mmc.edu
