Uncovering connections between the human environment, genes, and health
Meet Chirag Patel, PhD, speaker at TEDxSanFrancisco 2019
Currently Biomedical Data Scientist at Harvard University Medical School
Chirag Patel, a leading Biomedical data scientist answers with vast amounts of information on the environment and human genome. Within the highly complex and nuanced relationship between environment and the human genome, Chirag Patel zeroes in by concentrating on the interplay of genetics and exposomes (defined as the totality of non-genetic factors, including drugs, diet, infectious agents, and pollutants) to define who we really are. He began with his studies in Molecular Biology and Computing at the University of California, Berkeley before continuing his studies at Stanford where he obtained his doctorate in Biomedical Informatics. Before Stanford, Patel worked for nine years as a software engineer at a biotechnology company where he developed algorithms for gene sequencing devices. It was the realization that our genomes influence just a small portion of human health that catalyzed Patel’s desire to return to school to receive formal training in biomedical informatics.
For his PhD thesis, Chirag created the first “search engine” to identify robust analytic support environmental exposures associated with disease. The method, called an “Environment-wide association study” is a machine learning approach to associate nutrients, pollutants, and infectious agents with complex diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, preterm birth, and aging. From there, Patel took the next step and launched a pilot Artificial Intelligence course for medical professionals through doc.ai, an artificial intelligence company whose mission seeks to decentralize precision medicine. Patel says, “We envision that the tools of data science and machine learning will complement doctors’ existing armamentarium for diagnosing and providing care for their populations.”
Currently based in Boston as the Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School, Patel’s work involves painting a complete picture of the determinants of health and disease, as well as a response to therapies and general care. Biomedical Informatics can be described as the intersection of biology, patient care, advanced computing and data analysis. Patel lives in this intersection, driven by the desire to see the big picture in order to make stunning revelations within human health. Patel says, “To understand what makes us healthy and sick, we must understand the relationship between our collective environments and genes. We attempt to dissect the relationship between the genome and environment in human health using tools of translational bioinformatics in large data streams such as electronic health records and epidemiological cohorts, integrating personal exposure monitoring, the microbiome, and genome sequence information to obtain a comprehensive picture of who we are.”
Now that’s an idea worth spreading.
