Announcing the internal search for a new Director of Penn Institute for Biomedical Informatics

March 9, 2026

We write to initiate the internal search for a new director for the Institute for Biomedical Informatics (IBI) at the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) of the University of Pennsylvania.

About the IBI

The IBI was established in 2015 to develop, advance, and support interdisciplinary education, research, and infrastructure in the core sub‑disciplines of biomedical informatics—bioinformatics, clinical informatics, translational bioinformatics, consumer health informatics, and public health informatics. The IBI consists of ~100 highly interdisciplinary research laboratories spanning multiple disciplines and is home to education programs, research centers, and informatics core facilities.

Mission

Through its programs and services, the IBI serves the basic, clinical, and translational research communities in Penn Medicine with the following missions:

    • Develop innovative computational methods for artificial intelligence, data integration, data mining, machine learning, and natural language processing; build and maintain the cutting‑edge infrastructure that supports them.
    • Enable rapid retrieval and synthesis of data from clinical, basic‑science, population, and outcome domains to accelerate precision‑medicine discovery and translational research.
    • Forge cross‑disciplinary partnerships across PSOM, UPHS, Nursing, SEAS, SAS, Wharton, CHOP, and industry to create a seamless research–clinical continuum.
    • Guide efforts to secure funding from NIH, philanthropy, and industry; explore spin‑out or licensing models that generate long‑term revenue for the institute.
    • Launch fellowships, training programs, and strategic faculty recruitment plans to build a workforce fluent in medicine and data science while ensuring campus researchers have access to advanced tools and collaborative opportunities.
    • Advance Penn Medicine’s learning health system, contributing to the framework to accelerate evidence generation and care improvement.
Role of the Director

The Director will set strategic goals for the IBI and oversee its day‑to‑day academic, research, and operational activities. The Director will ensure that the IBI’s resources advance both fundamental discoveries and their translation into patient care. As a senior member of the PSOM leadership team in research computing, data science, and artificial intelligence, the Director will help shape the school’s strategy in these domains while working closely with senior leaders and external partners. The position reports to the Dean of PSOM and collaborates directly with the Senior Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer (SVD/CSO). The role will include an administrative stipend.

Qualifications

Applicants for the position must hold an MD and/or PhD degree and qualify for faculty appointment as Associate or Full Professor in the Standing Faculty of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Qualified candidates should have outstanding leadership attributes and demonstrate a commitment to foster the exceptional research endeavors of the IBI.

How to Apply

Individuals who are interested in applying for this position should submit a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae, and a brief (one-page) statement describing a programmatic vision by March 31, 2026. Please forward all application materials to Meghann Risell at Meghann.Risell@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

The selection committee, advisory to the Dean, will be chaired by Li-San Wang, PhD, with committee members listed below.

Thank you for your attention to this important institutional opportunity.

 

Jonathan A. Epstein, MD, Dean

and

E. Michael Ostap, PhD, Senior Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer

 

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Committee Members:

 

Li-San Wang, PhD

Committee Chair

Peter C. Nowell, M.D. Professor,

Co-Director, Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science for Integrated Diagnostics (AI2D)

Associate Dean for Computing, PSOM

 

John Dani, PhD

David J. Mahoney Professor of Neurological Sciences

Director, Mahoney Institute

Scientific Director, UPENN, CNS Consortium

 

Christos Davatzikos, PhD

Wallace T. Miller Sr. Professor of Radiology

Director, AI2D Center for AI and Data Science for Integrated Diagnostics

 

Struan Grant, PhD

Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics

Daniel B. Burke Endowed Chair for Diabetes Research

Director, Center for Spatial & Functional Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Perelman School of Medicine

 

Kevin Johnson, MD, MS

David L. Cohen University Professor of Pediatrics, Biomedical Informatics, and Science Communication

Vice President of Applied Clinical Informatics, UPHS

 

Mitch Schnall, MD, PhD

Professor of Radiology

Senior Vice President for Data and Technology Solutions, Penn Medicine

 

Katalin Susztak, MD, PhD

Professor of Medicine

Co-Chair, Penn/CHOP Kidney Innovation Center

 

Golnaz Vahedi, PhD

Professor of Genetics

Deputy Director, Institute for Immunology & Immune Health, Penn Medicine

Co-Director, Penn Epigenetics Institute, Penn Medicine

 

Joost Wagenaar, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology

Assistant Director for Cloud Computing, Institute for Biomedical Informatics

Director of the Neuroengineering Data Ecosystem, Center for Neuroengineering and Therapeutics