Justin B. Starren, MD, PhD, has been named director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, announced Michael D. Dake, MD, senior vice president for the University of Arizona Health Sciences. Dr. Starren will start March 25.
![[Portrait of Justin Starren, MD, PhD]](https://deptmedicine.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/starren-justin-md-phd_cb-2_6_final_140x210px.jpg "Justin Starren, MD, PhD, is the new director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics at UArizona")
“Dr. Starren is an exceptional professor, researcher and data scientist with more than 30 years of experience in biomedical informatics,” Dr. Dake said.
Dr. Starren joins the university from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where he started in 2010 and was director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Data Science. He was also a professor and chief of the Division of Health and Biomedical Informatics, which he founded.
While at Northwestern, Dr. Starren developed the fiscal and management model for a 5-million-patient digital data warehouse, which was a joint venture between Northwestern Memorial Health Care and the Feinberg School of Medicine. He created new doctoral and master’s programs in health and biomedical informatics. And he was instrumental in securing more than $124 million in federal and foundation grants.
Other stops in Dr. Starren’s professional career include Wisconsin’s Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation (2006-10) and the Columbia University School of Medicine (1998-2006).
“His extensive background in teaching, mentorship and research make him an outstanding fit for UArizona Health Sciences. His expertise in big data and informatics as well as his vast writing portfolio and success in attracting grants portend a new era of achievement at CB2,” Dr. Dake added.
In terms of innovation, Dr. Starren was named a Top 10 IT Innovator by Healthcare Informatics Magazine in 2002 and has two patents to his credit.
Dr. Starren’s focus has been that patients intuitively understand, if they want the latest and best therapies today, they need to seek out an institution that is actively researching and developing the best therapies for tomorrow. He has stated he’s committed to making CB2 one of the strongest academic research programs of its kind in the country so that the university can deliver health services of the highest quality.
In addition, Dr. Starren has demonstrated a commitment to achieving success through collaboration.
“He believes that CB2 cannot achieve its mission based solely on one researcher’s portfolio. Rather, it will require multiple faculty members, both existing UA faculty and new recruitments, working together on a shared vision. Through collaboration, Dr. Starren hopes to develop CB2 into a full-featured academic home for biomedical computational sciences,” Dr. Dake said.
“Dr. Starren has a vision to make the university the leading institution in the nation for applying the tools of informatics, biostatistics and data science to the health problems of underserved populations, including the Native American and Hispanic communities. We look forward to supporting Dr. Starren as he works to make that vision a reality.”
Dr. Dake also thanked Nirav Merchant, director of the UArizona Data Science Institute and co-principal investigator and project director on the UArizona CyVerse program, for ably leading CB2 on an interim basis.
Original story link.
ALSO SEE:
“Using big data to target gene mutations in cancer tumor cells” | Posted Jan. 18, 2024
“Revolutionizing skin cancer care through data” | Posted June 22, 2023
“UA Students Use CyVerse to Help Predict Mosquito-Borne Diseases” | Posted Sept. 13, 2017
“UA Researchers Launch App for 'Citizen-Scientists' to Track Zika Virus” | Posted Sept. 27, 2016