Boston University appoints Joshua Campbell as new director of the Bioinformatics Program
At the start of the fall semester, Joshua Campbell, Associate Professor at Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, was appointed as the new Director of the Bioinformatics Program, with a secondary appointment in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS).
Campbell has extensive experience at BU; he earned a doctorate in bioinformatics and completed postdoctoral training here before serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. He joined BU as a faculty member in the Section of Computational Biomedicine within the Department of Medicine in 2016; in his first year on the BU faculty, he was awarded a Ralph Edwards Career Development Professorship in recognition of his potential as a future leader in his field.
Notably, Campbell is the first director of the Bioinformatics program whose primary appointment is on the Medical Campus, embodying not just the integration of fields including biology, computer science, and statistics but the interconnection of BU’s Charles River and Medical campuses. In the Campbell Laboratory he develops novel Bayesian methods for analyzing ‘omic data and performs translational research using multi-omic datasets from cancer samples collected at Boston Medical Center in collaboration with close experimental and clinical colleagues. This work is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary, with numerous co-funded projects and publications with faculty from across BU.
Campbell’s appointment marks another milestone in the Bioinformatics program’s development. Since its emergence, the field of bioinformatics (representing the convergence of computational and biomedical sciences) has been heavily focused on the development of new mathematical and computational approaches to analyze, interpret and model biological and biomedical data with wide clinical and bench applications. The Bioinformatics program at BU has been at the forefront of this development—in both research and education—dating back to the mid-1990s, spearheaded by ENG Dean Emeritus and CDS Distinguished Visiting Professor Charles DeLisi, who established the nation's first MS and PhD programs in bioinformatics in 1999.
A key contributor to the success of Bioinformatics at BU has been the program’s capacity to dynamically adapt to the rise of new questions and opportunities in multiple areas of biology and computation, most recently with significant advances in scalable data science, machine learning, and AI. As plans developed for the new Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, it was evident that Bioinformatics should be integrated into CDS, a move finalized in 2023. Professor Tom Tullius, who had led the program since 2009, was invaluable in this process. Under his leadership, and through his profound commitment to the student experience, the Bioinformatics program solidified its reputation as a world-class training ground for the next generation of bioinformaticians and computational biologists, and fostered a vibrant, supportive, and collaborative community, ensuring that students feel connected and empowered throughout their challenging academic journey.
We look forward to the continued advancement of this program under Joshua Campbell’s leadership. “The integration of medicine, biology, and data science is where the most exciting discoveries are happening,” Bestavros said. “Josh is perfectly positioned to guide BU Bioinformatics into this new era, ensuring our students and faculty remain at the forefront of research and discovery.”
Q1: What is your vision for the Bioinformatics Program in its next chapter, and how do you hope to build on its strong history?
Looking ahead, my vision is to build upon our strong history of innovation by expanding our curriculum at the dynamic intersection of computation and the life sciences. To welcome the next generation of scientists, we must recognize that bioinformatics has evolved into a broad field with diverse subdisciplines. Our growth can focus on key areas such as using exploratory data analysis to derive insights from high-throughput omics technologies; advancing data engineering to manage and visualize large-scale datasets; and applying new AI/ML methods for advanced prediction and classification tasks. Additionally, given that many of our former trainees have founded successful companies or hold leadership positions in industry, there is significant excitement around harnessing this entrepreneurial spirit. We aim to create educational pathways and incubators that allow students to engage with the business side of science. Ultimately, I hope to forge a powerful network for our students by deepening connections with our alumni and partners in the greater Boston area, ensuring BU remains at the center of the biomedical innovation ecosystem.
“We aim to create educational pathways and incubators that allow students to engage with the business side of science.”
Q2: What role do you believe BU Bioinformatics can play in preparing students to lead in the era of AI and data-driven biomedicine?
Our primary goal is to ensure students can think critically about the application of new computational tools to biological data, including the latest AI/ML methods. We believe that true leadership in this field requires more than just technical skill; it demands a deep understanding of how these methods work, the scientific judgment to know when to apply them, and the critical insight to recognize when an output is flawed. Our programs build upon these principles to position our students as innovators in both academia and industry. We are committed to being a hub for discovery, training the next generation of researchers who will pioneer the novel methods and software that drive the entire field forward.
Q3: What role do you believe the Bioinformatics Program should play in the broader mission of CDS—especially around AI for science, health equity, and student training—and how will you engage alumni, students, and faculty to make that role meaningful?
The Bioinformatics Program embodies the cross-disciplinary spirit of CDS. Our program has always existed at the intersection of biology, mathematics, and computer science with the singular goal of improving human health—a mission that perfectly aligns with CDS's ambition to use data science for the betterment of society. We're excited to work together to pioneer AI for science by embedding cutting-edge ML methods into our health research and curriculum. Central to this is our commitment to student training; we are preparing a unique generation of scientists who can seamlessly navigate both the computational and biological worlds. To make this vision a reality, we will actively engage our community by fostering new collaborations for our faculty, creating interdisciplinary research projects for our students, and building a stronger professional network with our alumni. Together, we will realize the full promise of data-driven biology at BU.