We are pleased to welcome Chris Barrett, PhD, to the University of Virginia to create a statewide Biocomplexity Initiative. Dr. Barrett is a global leader in applying computer science concepts and tools to make new discoveries in complex social systems, and we are thrilled he is bringing his expertise, talent and quest for knowledge to UVA.
We are excited about the opportunity to build on the program initiated at Virginia Tech to include exciting new areas of computational science and artificial intelligence focused on human health and behavior.
We are particularly looking forward to partnering with the Genomics and Bioinformatics Research Institute — a joint venture of UVA, Inova Health System and George Mason University — where the Biocomplexity Initiative’s high-performance computing capabilities will facilitate deeper understanding of the relationship between human genomics, social and behavioral determinants of health and environmental influences in the manifestations of human diseases.
The Biocomplexity Initiative is a perfect complement to UVA’s Data Science Institute and UVA programs in engineering, medicine, public health, statistics and theoretical mathematics. The Biocomplexity Initiative will be based on the principles of interdisciplinary team science, which is essential to solving complex and multidimensional problems in medicine and society.
