Michael J. Pencina, PhD
Adjunct Professor, Biostatistics - Boston University School of Public Health
Biography
Michael J. Pencina, PhD, is Duke Health's chief data scientist and serves as vice dean for data science, director of Duke AI Health, professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics at the Duke University School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of Biostatistics at Boston University School of Public Health. His work bridges the fields of data science, health care, and AI, contributing to Duke’s national leadership in trustworthy health AI.
Dr. Pencina partners with key leaders to develop data science strategies for Duke Health that span and connect academic research and clinical care. As vice dean for data science, he develops and implements quantitative science strategies to support the School of Medicine’s missions in education and training, laboratory and clinical science, and data science.
He co-founded and co-leads the national Coalition for Health AI (CHAI), a multi-stakeholder effort whose mission is to increase trustworthiness of AI by developing guidelines to drive high-quality health care through the adoption of credible, fair, and transparent health AI systems. He also spearheaded the establishment and co-chairs Duke Health’s Algorithm-Based Clinical Decision Support (ABCDS) Oversight Committee and serves as co-director of Duke’s Collaborative to Advance Clinical Health Equity (CACHE).
Dr. Pencina is an internationally recognized authority in the evaluation of AI algorithms. Guideline groups rely on his work to advance best practices for the application of clinical decision support tools in health delivery. He interacts frequently with investigators from academic and industry institutions as well as government officials. Since 2014, Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics has regularly recognized Dr. Pencina as one of the world’s "highly cited researchers" in clinical medicine and social sciences, with more than 400 publications cited over 140,000 times. He serves as a deputy editor for statistics at JAMA-Cardiology.
Dr. Pencina joined the Duke University faculty in 2013, and served as director of biostatistics for the Duke Clinical Research Institute until 2018. Previously, he was an associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics at Boston University and the Framingham Heart Study, and director of statistical consulting at the Harvard Clinical Research Institute. He received his PhD in Mathematics and Statistics from Boston University in 2003 and holds master’s degrees from the University of Warsaw in actuarial mathematics and business culture.
Other Positions
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research - Boston University
- Chief Data Scientist - Duke University Health System
- Vice Dean for Data Science - Duke University Health System
- Director, Duke AI Health - Duke University Health System
- Professor, Biostatistics & Bioinformatics - Duke University School of Medicine
Education
- Boston University, PhD Field of Study: Mathematics
- University of Warsaw, MA Field of Study: American Studies
- University of Warsaw, MA Field of Study: Applied Mathematics
Websites
Publications
- Published on 2/11/2026
Khan SS, Greenland P, Hayman LL, Khera R, Navar AM, Pencina MJ, Reza N, Shah SH, Shanbhag S, Weber B, Wong S, Khera A. Criteria to Assess the Predictive and Clinical Utility of Novel Models, Biomarkers, and Tools for Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2026 Mar 17; 153(11):e953-e970. PMID: 41669831.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 1/28/2026
Hao S, Matos J, Dempsey K, Alwakeel M, Houghtaling J, Hong C, Gichoya J, Kibbe W, Pencina M, Cox CE, Wong AI. Skin tone and clinical dataset from a prospective trial on acute care patients. Sci Data. 2026 Jan 28; 13(1):145. PMID: 41605934.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 1/16/2026
Konti X, Economou-Zavlanos NJ, Shen Y, Stamou G, Bedoya A, Pencina MJ, Hong C, Zavlanos MM. A federated learning framework for ethical dynamic treatment allocation across heterogeneous hospitals. J Biomed Inform. 2026 Feb; 174:104987. PMID: 41548733.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 12/3/2025
Quist-Nelson J, Meng ML, Rich-Edwards J, Fuller M, Hong C, Pencina M, Boggess K, Henao R, Stuart J. Adverse pregnancy outcomes and development of short-term cardiovascular disease risk factors. Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM. 2026 Feb; 8(2):101869. PMID: 41349795.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 11/25/2025
Kuczynski W, Kudrycka A, Pierzchala K, Grabska-Kobylecka I, Pencina M, Sakowski S, Bialasiewicz P. Overall Mortality and Comorbidities in Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Poland. Med Sci Monit. 2025 Nov 25; 31:e950826. PMID: 41287260.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 11/25/2025
Krishnan V, Huang X, Zhang S, Shah NS, Navar AM, Coresh J, Rangaswami J, Ho JE, Khera A, Blumenthal RS, Pencina M, Lloyd-Jones DM, Greenland P, Ndumele CE, Khan SS. Age and Sex-Specific Percentiles of 30-Year Cardiovascular Disease Risk Based on the PREVENT Equations. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2025 Nov 25; 86(21):2017-2027. PMID: 41260756.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 11/1/2025
Yang R, Tong J, Wang H, Huang H, Hu Z, Li P, Liu N, Lindsell CJ, Pencina MJ, Chen Y, Hong C. Enabling inclusive systematic reviews: incorporating preprint articles with large language model-driven evaluations. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2025 Nov 01; 32(11):1718-1725. PMID: 40886699.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 10/16/2025
Kuczynski W, Kudrycka A, Pierzchala K, Grabska-Kobylecka I, Pencina M, Sakowski S, Bialasiewicz P. Beyond the Apnea-Hypopnea Index: Exploring Time-Dependent Hazard Ratios of Respiratory Events in Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Adv Respir Med. 2025 Oct 16; 93(5). PMID: 41149138.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 10/15/2025
Liu P, Shen Y, Engelhard MM, Goldstein BA, Pencina MJ, Economou-Zavlanos NJ, Zavlanos MM. FairPOT: Balancing AUC Performance and Fairness with Proportional Optimal Transport. Proc AAAI ACM Conf AI Ethics Soc. 2025 Oct; 8(2):1611-1622. PMID: 41340982.
Read At: PubMed
- Published on 10/1/2025
Khan SS, Huang X, Ndumele CE, Blumenthal RS, Pencina MJ, Sniderman AD, Shah NS, Wilkins JT, Lloyd-Jones DM. Statin Eligibility According to Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in the US. JAMA Cardiol. 2025 Oct 01; 10(10):1071-1073. PMID: 40833687.
Read At: PubMed
View 438 more publications:View Full Profile at BUMC