CBIIT is pleased to introduce two new branch chiefs within its Informatics and Data Science (IDS) Program.

Effective October 9, 2022, Dr. Tanja Davidsen serves as chief for the Data Ecosystems Branch. While she has been with CBIIT since 2015, she has most recently been instrumental in leading one of the branch’s flagship programs, the Cancer Research Data Commons. As branch chief, she will provide strategic direction to develop innovations in data science using data integration, artificial intelligence, machine learning, scientific cloud computing resources, and other novel analytics to maximize impact on cancer.       

Effective December 4, 2022, Dr. Umit Topaloglu will serve as chief of the Clinical and Translational Research Informatics Branch (CTRIB). Dr. Topaloglu comes to CBIIT from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center. There, he has served in multiple key leadership roles in both informatics and data science. He will lead the CTRIB team in providing strategic direction in clinical and translational informatics, which is critical to cancer research.

Dr. Jill Barnholtz-Sloan, CBIIT’s associate director for the IDS Program, says, “Drs. Davidsen and Topaloglu have extensive experience in cancer informatics and data science. They will be key advisors to me, their respective branches, and the CBIIT team. NCI senior officers can also look to them for support on the research and development of informatics and data science technologies, as well as the systems that support NCI’s critical cancer research programs.”