"Large Scale Phenotyping with AI in Biobanks" - Dr. Russ Altman, Senior Fellow @ Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)

​Meet Dr. Russ Altman, a physician-scientist and Stanford professor who’s spent his career bridging the worlds of medicine, data, and technology. With a background in bioengineering, genetics, and computer science, Dr. Altman is deeply interested in how we can use tools like AI and informatics to better understand how drugs work — not just in the lab, but in real people, across populations.

Dr. Altman leads a lab at Stanford that studies everything from how our genes affect drug response, to how we can predict side effects and interactions using data. His team helps run an FDA-backed center that’s rethinking how we approach drug regulation in the age of AI. If you’ve ever checked out resources like PharmGKB or Helix, you’ve already seen some of his work in action!

He earned his AB from Harvard, then his MD and PhD from Stanford, and has been part of the Stanford community ever since, being through teaching, mentorship, and research. Over the years, he’s been recognized with awards like the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the NSF CAREER Award. He’s also a member of the National Academy of Medicine, a past president of multiple major societies, and has advised organizations like the FDA and NIH on how to responsibly bring emerging tech into healthcare.

Dr. Altman also founded the Annual Reviews of Biomedical Data Science and hosts the podcast “The Future of Everything,” where he talks with innovators about what’s next in science, tech, and society.

We are very excited to have him talk about one of the most promising frontiers in medicine: how we can use AI and massive biobanks to understand health and rare diseases on a population scale, and why that might just be the next big thing.