PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Anna Goldenberg

Anna Goldenberg is a Toronto machine learning researcher who develops AI methods for human disease and for hospital care. Born in Voronezh, Russia, she moved to Kentucky in 1995, studied at the University of Louisville, and completed a machine learning PhD at Carnegie Mellon University with a 2007 thesis on scalable graphical models for social networks. A 2014 Nature Methods paper she coauthored introduced Similarity Network Fusion, which fuses patient data types into one patient network and improved survival predictions in five cancers. SickKids named her its first chair in biomedical informatics and artificial intelligence in January 2019, and she became a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute in 2019, a chair that CIFAR renewed in 2025. She co-leads the SickKids AI Service and holds appointments in computer science and in laboratory medicine and pathobiology at the University of Toronto.

Timeline

  1. 1995–2007

    A Carnegie Mellon PhD

    Born and raised in Voronezh, Russia, she moves to Kentucky in 1995 and earns a Bachelor of Engineering in engineering mathematics and computer science at the University of Louisville. At Carnegie Mellon she completes a Master's in knowledge discovery and data mining and a PhD in machine learning, with a 2007 thesis titled Scalable Graphical Models for Social Networks.

  2. 2008–2009

    A survey of statistical network models

    She moves to Canada in 2008 as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2009, she coauthors A Survey of Statistical Network Models with Alice X. Zheng, Stephen E. Fienberg and Edoardo M. Airoldi, a review that gives readers an entry point to the literature on statistical models for network data.

  3. 2014

    Similarity Network Fusion

    In January 2014, she and coauthors including Bo Wang and Michael Brudno publish Similarity Network Fusion in Nature Methods. The method builds a network of patients for each data type and fuses the networks into one; on five cancer data sets it outperforms single data type analysis at identifying cancer subtypes and improves survival predictions.

  4. 2016–2017

    A Canada Research Chair

    In 2016, she receives an Early Researcher Award from the Ministry of Research and Innovation. In 2017, she is appointed to a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Computational Medicine at the University of Toronto.

  5. January 2019

    SickKids' first AI chair

    In January 2019, the Hospital for Sick Children names her its first chair in biomedical informatics and artificial intelligence, the first post of its kind in a Canadian children's hospital. A $1.75 million donation from Toronto entrepreneur Amar Varma helps fund the chair, and her SickKids research uses patient data to predict cardiac arrest as an early warning system.

  6. 2019

    A Canada CIFAR AI Chair

    In 2019, she is named a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute, one of eight University of Toronto researchers to receive the title. With colleagues including Peter Laussen, she develops an early-warning system that predicts 70 per cent of heart attacks at least five minutes before a patient's heart stops beating.

  7. 2022

    A joint tenured appointment

    In 2022, she begins a joint tenured appointment in computer science and in laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She becomes Director of the Computational Medicine and Biology program in both departments.

  8. As of October 2026

    AI leadership at SickKids

    She holds appointments in computer science and in laboratory medicine and pathobiology at the University of Toronto, where she co-chairs the research arm of the Temerty Centre for AI and directs an AI in Healthcare master's concentration. At SickKids she co-leads the SickKids AI Service, and she is a faculty member at the Vector Institute. Her lab develops and deploys machine learning models in healthcare, and CIFAR renews her Canada CIFAR AI Chair in 2025.

Career

  1. Since 2019Hospital for Sick ChildrenChair in biomedical informatics and artificial intelligence
  2. Since 2019Vector InstituteCanada CIFAR AI Chair
  3. Since 2017University of TorontoTier 2 Canada Research Chair in Computational Medicine, Joint tenured appointment in computer science and laboratory medicine and pathobiology

Education

  1. 2007Carnegie Mellon UniversityMaster's
  2. University of LouisvilleBachelor of Engineering

From the biography.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Toronto. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes Vector Institute. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Toronto. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes University of Toronto. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Anna Goldenberg yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Anna Goldenberg - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Anna Goldenberg – CIFAR cifar.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. [0912.5410] A survey of statistical network models arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Similarity network fusion for aggregating data types on a genomic scale | Nature Methods nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. U of T’s Anna Goldenberg named SickKids’ first-ever chair in biomedical informatics and artificial intelligence | University of Toronto utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Eight U of T artificial intelligence researchers named CIFAR AI Chairs | University of Toronto utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. LMP appoints faculty in computational medicine | Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology lmp.utoronto.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. The Team | Goldenberg Lab goldenberglab.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. SickKids Artificial Intelligence sickkids.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Anna Goldenberg - Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence vectorinstitute.ai. Checked 21 October 2026.