Gustavo Stolovitzky
Gustavo A. Stolovitzky | |
|---|---|
| Born | Argentina |
| Occupation(s) | Computational systems biologist, researcher, executive, professor |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Known for | Co-founder of DREAM initiative, IBM Fellow, crowdsourcing in computational biology |
| Notable work | Leadership of Translational Systems Biology and Nano-Biotechnology Program at IBM Research |
Gustavo A. Stolovitzky is a computational systems biologist of Argentine-American descent. Until December 2023, he held the position of Chief Scientific Officer at Sema4 and subsequently at GeneDx. Between 1998 and 2021, Stolovitzky worked as both a researcher and executive at IBM Research, where he established the Exploratory Life Sciences Council as its inaugural chair and led the Translational Systems Biology and Nano-Biotechnology Program as director. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai from 2013 to 2018 and has been affiliated with Columbia University in a similar capacity since 2007. His scholarly work has garnered more than 29,000 citations.
He is a co-founder of the Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods (DREAM), a global crowdsourcing platform engaging over 15,000 participants to identify optimal biomedical techniques. Stolovitzky’s pioneering use of crowdsourcing in computational biology earned him the prestigious IBM Fellow distinction.
Career
Stolovitzky completed his Master of Science in physics at the University of Buenos Aires in 1987, followed by a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Yale University in 1994. He joined IBM Research in 1998, where he eventually became director of the Translational Systems Biology and Nano-Biotechnology Program. In addition to his role at IBM, he holds an adjunct professorship at Columbia University and conducted postdoctoral research at The Rockefeller University’s Center for Studies in Physics and Biology. In collaboration with Jared Roach, he introduced sophisticated techniques for interpreting Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing (MPSS) data in 2005. In 2008, Stolovitzky was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study.
He has been an advocate for leveraging crowdsourcing as a strategic approach to speed up innovation within scientific research.
Recognition
Among his accolades, Stolovitzky has been honored with the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) Pioneer Award for Great Minds in STEM and the World Technology Award in Biotechnology, both awarded in 2013. The Argentinian government recognized him with the Raíces Prize in 2017. He holds membership in the IBM Academy of Technology and is a Fellow of several prestigious organizations including the New York Academy of Sciences, World Technology Network, American Physical Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science.
In 2019, he was elevated to IBM Fellow status, representing IBM’s highest technical honor. Two years later, in 2021, he was named Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology.
Family
Stolovitzky resides with his family in the Northeastern region of the United States.
History
Stolovitzky obtained his M.Sc. in physics with distinction from the University of Buenos Aires in 1987 and earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Yale University in 1994. Remarkably, he entered Yale’s doctoral program through a special exception despite missing formal application deadlines. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at The Rockefeller University, he commenced his professional journey at IBM Research in 1998.
Titles and awards
Throughout his career, Gustavo Stolovitzky has been recognized with numerous distinctions, including:
- IBM Fellow
- Distinguished Research Staff Member at IBM Computational Biology Center
- IBM Master Inventor
- Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences
- Fellow of the American Physical Society (since 2007)
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
- HENAAC Pioneer Award for Great Minds in STEM (2013)
- World Technology Award in Biotechnology (2013)
- Henry Prentiss Becton Prize for Excellence in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University (1995)
- Fellow of the World Technology Network