About Us

Mission 

2022 DCMB Retreat Group Photo
2022 DCMB Annual Retreat Group Photo

The mission of the Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics (DCMB) is to create novel and impactful informatics and computationally-based methods, tools, and algorithms, and resources to extend basic and clinical research capabilities and results. Computational medicine and bioinformatics is an applied field, and relies on an interdisciplinary research culture for success. DCMB is deeply committed to training the next generation of innovators and leaders in this field, applying to create new science, translational research, and creating new methods to improve public health and societal welfare.

The Bioinformatics Graduate Program is the academic component of DCMB. The program is led by Dr. Margit Burmeister, Professor of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics & Human Genetics and Dr. Maureen Sartor, Associate Professor of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics &  Biostatistics. Multidisciplinary faculty support the robust curriculum and research opportunities for the students. 

The Bioinformatics Graduate Program is also home to two NIH T32 training grants: The Biomedical Informatics and Data Science Training Program (BIDS-TP) and The Proteome Informatics of Cancer Training Program (NCI). 

As of summer 2019, the Bioinformatics Program has graduated over 90 Ph.D. students and 85 Master’s degrees. Alumni from both programs have gone into both academia and industry. Many remain invested in the medical field working at institutions such as the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Mayo Clinic or at health-related corporations such as Ambry Genetics or Thermo Fisher Scientific. Others have applied their skills to different areas of industry (working at locations such as Microsoft, Inc. or Google, Inc.). A complete list of alumni and their job information can be found on the alumni pages. The department continues to build ties in both academics and industry and strives to find the best career path for each student.  

Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics 

The U-M Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics (CCMB) is a university-wide interdisciplinary academic center with over 100 affiliated faculty members (in addition to DCMB faculty). About half of the faculty of CCMB are drawn from diverse quantitative fields such as mathematics, computer science, engineering, bioinformatics, and biostatistics; the other half are based in chemistry, biology, or medicine, applying cutting-edge biomedical informatics to their work. CCMB is the University of Michigan institutional leader in the entire spectrum of biomedical informatics disciplines, including bioinformatics innovation, clinical informatics, and health informatics.  Complementary faculty serve as co-mentors for the graduate students.   

DCMB Faculty 

DCMB Faculty are passionate contributors to various aspects of the field, whose experience is diverse and spans the bioinformatics and clinical research continuum. Many are national leaders in their sub-disciplines. 

DCMB Faculty 2018-2019 Group Photo
2018-2019 DCMB Faculty 

Core DCMB Instructional Faculty:  

Brian D. Athey, Ph.D.
Kin Fai Au, Ph.D.
Alan Boyle, Ph.D.
Margit Burmeister, Ph.D.
Lana Garmire, Ph.D.
Yuanfang Guan, Ph.D.
Stephen Guest, Ph.D.
Jie Liu, Ph.D.
Alla Karnovsky, Ph.D.
Minji Kim, Ph.D.
Jie Liu, Ph.D.
Ryan Mills, Ph.D.
Cristina Mitrea, Ph.D.
Kayvan Najarian, Ph.D.
Matthew O'Meara, Ph.D. 
Gilbert S. Omenn, M.D., Ph.D.
Stephen Parker, Ph.D.
Indika Rajapakse, Ph.D.
Arvind Rao, Ph.D.
Maureen Sartor, Ph.D.
Meng Wang, Ph.D.
Joshua Welch, Ph.D.

Core DCMB Research Faculty:  

Rajasree Menon, Ph.D.
Lindsey Muir, Ph.D.
Tingting Qin, Ph.D.
Arushi Varshney, Ph.D.
Yunhao Wang, Ph.D.
Chengxin Zhang, Ph.D.
Yue Zhao, Ph.D.
Weichen Zhou, Ph.D.

CCMB Affiliated Faculty with Secondary Appointments in DCMB  

 

Veera Baladandayuthapani, Ph.D. (Biostatistics, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics)
Marcin Cieslik, Ph.D. (Pathology, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics)
Ivo D. Dinov, Ph.D.
(Health Behavior and Biological Sciences); Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, SOCR Director
Daniel Forger, Ph.D. (Mathematics, LS&A); Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Lydia Freddolino, Ph.D. ( Biological Chemistry); Assistant Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics

Jeff Kidd, Ph.D. (Human Genetics); Assistant Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Jacob Kitzman, Ph.D. (Human Genetics); Assistant Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Matthias Kretzler, M.D. (Internal Medicine, Nephrology); Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Jun Li, Ph.D. (Human Genetics); Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Alexey Nesvizhskii, Ph.D. (Pathology); Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Elizabeth Speliotes, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H. (Internal Medicine, Gastrointestinal); Associate Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Jeremy Taylor, Ph.D. (Biostatistics, Public Health); Professor, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics