Yes, in that the University is a covered entity under HIPAA. The extent to which HIPAA applies to your daily activities will vary depending on the function of your department. If your students or residents treat patients through affiliated hospitals and clinics, you need to ensure that they are educated on how HIPAA affects them. If you have any health information under your control that identifies a patient, it must be maintained according to HIPAA, even if it is not original health information, such as when used for education or research. If you do not have any type of patient information anywhere in your department and are not exposed to it in any way (e.g., animal research, statistical analysis), then HIPAA will probably not affect operations in your department.