PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Michael Brudno

Michael Brudno is a computer scientist who applies machine learning and software to clinical and genomic data, mostly for rare diseases. He earned a Stanford PhD in 2004 with work on algorithms for whole genome alignments and published the LAGAN and Multi-LAGAN aligners in 2003. After starting a research program at the University of Toronto and SickKids in 2006, he became Chief Data Scientist of UHN Digital in 2020 and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, an appointment renewed in 2025. In 2022, he coauthored papers on machine-learning medical directives in pediatric emergency medicine and on the PhenoPad note-taking interfaces. He is a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto, Chief Data Scientist at the University Health Network and a faculty member at the Vector Institute.

Timeline

  1. 2000–2004

    From Berkeley to a Stanford PhD

    He earns a BA in computer science and history at UC Berkeley in 2000, then an MS in 2003 and a PhD in 2004 in computer science at Stanford, where his doctoral work covers algorithms for whole genome alignments. In 2004, he wins an Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology (ISMB) best paper award.

  2. 2003

    The LAGAN genome aligners

    In 2003, he is first author of a Genome Research paper presenting LAGAN, a system for rapid global alignment of two homologous genomic sequences, and Multi-LAGAN, a system for multiple global alignment. Coauthors include Chuong Do and Serafim Batzoglou, and Multi-LAGAN aligns all 12 test sequences in 75 minutes on a personal computer.

  3. 2006–2016

    Canada Research Chair in Computational Biology

    He starts a research program at the University of Toronto and SickKids in 2006 and holds a Canada Research Chair in Computational Biology for two terms, 2006–2011 and 2011–2016. Honours in these years include a EuroSys best paper award in 2009, an Ontario Early Researcher Award for 2009–2014 and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship for 2010–2012.

  4. February 2020

    Chief Data Scientist at UHN

    In February 2020, UHN names him Chief Data Scientist of UHN Digital and Director of Digital Health and Senior Scientist at the Techna Institute. He arrives from SickKids, where he directed the Centre for Computational Medicine, and he is Scientific Director of HPC4Health, a consortium that provides high performance computing resources for biomedical researchers.

  5. 2020–2025

    A Canada CIFAR AI Chair

    In 2020, he is appointed a Canada CIFAR AI Chair, and the appointment is renewed in 2025. He is also a faculty member at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

  6. 2022

    Medical directives and PhenoPad

    In 2022, he coauthors a JAMA Network Open study that assesses machine-learning medical directives to expedite care in pediatric emergency medicine, and an npj Digital Medicine paper on PhenoPad, AI-enabled note-taking interfaces for patient encounters.

  7. 2022–2024

    Vice Chair of Computer Science

    He is Vice Chair of the University of Toronto's Department of Computer Science from 2022 to 2024 and Acting Vice Dean for Graduate Education in 2024. In 2022, he also puts together a summer research program for students fleeing Ukraine.

  8. As of October 2026

    AI deployments at UHN

    As of October 2026, he is a professor of computer science at the University of Toronto, Chief Data Scientist at the University Health Network and a faculty member at the Vector Institute. His work captures structured phenotypic data from clinical encounters, mines unstructured data with machine learning and analyses omics data alongside it, mostly for rare diseases. In December 2025, he speaks in the UCSF Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute seminar series about machine-learning models deployed at UHN, among them vision models for laparoscopic surgery and medical directives for pediatric emergency rooms.

Career

  1. Since 2020University Health NetworkChief Data Scientist
  2. Since 2006University of TorontoCanada Research Chair in Computational Biology, Vice Chair
  3. NowVector InstituteFaculty Member
  4. Until 2020Hospital for Sick ChildrenDirector
  5. From 2020CIFARCanada CIFAR AI Chair
  6. HPC4HealthScientific Director

Education

  1. 2004Stanford UniversityPhD
  2. 2003Stanford UniversityMS
  3. 2000University of California, BerkeleyBA

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Michael Brudno. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  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 with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. About – Michael Brudno brudno.uhndata.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Michael Brudno - Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence vectorinstitute.ai. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Michael Brudno – CIFAR cifar.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. LAGAN and Multi-LAGAN: Efficient Tools for Large-Scale Multiple Alignment of Genomic DNA - PMC pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. New Chief Data Scientist | UHN Research uhnresearch.ca. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. In the News – Michael Brudno brudno.uhndata.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. UCSF BCHSI Seminar Series ft Speaker: All Clinical AI Deployment is Local" - UCSF Events Calendar calendar.ucsf.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.