The Department of Data Science drives cancer research through innovation and collaboration in the quantitative sciences. Our faculty are experts in biostatistics, computational biology, knowledge systems, and machine learning. The department is unified by a commitment to improving cancer care through data-driven approaches. We strive to understand the biology of cancer, test the efficacy of treatments, and extract knowledge from complex datasets.
Visit our website to learn more about our team, research, events and careers.
Biostatistics
We are leaders in the development of statistical methodology and clinical trial design. Our statistical techniques power cancer research at Dana-Farber and beyond: we direct some of the most impactful clinical cancer trials in recent history. Our faculty provide expertise in all facets of clinical trial execution, including experimental design, logistics, and data analysis. We also analyze population and health systems data to better understand cancer risk and treatment efficacy.
Computational Biology and Genomics
We develop a variety of computational tools to enable basic science discoveries and improve clinical approaches in cancer and biomedical research worldwide. Our faculty produce some of the most widely used tools in the field. These include methods for processing next-generation sequencing data, statistical packages for analyzing high-throughput data, and machine learning pipelines that integrate diverse, complex datasets. We are deeply committed to open source software as a way to promote access to information.