Supporting Precision Medicine through Computation and Data Science

Time flies! We are excited to announce that 2025 marks the year Atul Butte joined UCSF as faculty to lead the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute (BCHSI). Butte's contributions to the field of Precision Medicine, Computational Health, Data and Innovation extend beyond UCSF. A few years later, Butte became the first Chief Data Scientist for the University of California Health System (includes all five UC medical campuses).

BCHSI is an academic home for faculty, students, post-doctoral scholars, and staff at the University who employ computational methodologies and AI to address topics in health and wellness. BCHSI is home to 89 faculty representing each of the 4 schools at UCSF – Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry and Pharmacy. 

In collaboration with several key groups on campus, the BCHSI Research Computing team has developed a cutting-edge research platform – the UCSF Information Commons – that provides unparalleled access to all de-identified clinical data for exploratory and hypothesis-formation purposes without the need for an Institutional Review Board protocol. The Information Commons with over 500 users, has resulted in over 100 scientific publications and enabled numerous Real World Evidence projects in partnership with industry and academia. 

Thank you Dr. Butte for your incredible leadership and vision – you are an inspiration!