As the worlds of genetic and computer sciences continue to grow fundamentally intertwined, the Coriell Institute for Medical Research is thrilled that its newest Board of Trustees member, John Piccone, has feet in both worlds.
Piccone comes to Coriell as the leader for the Watson Health Agile Insights team for life sciences at IBM. As such, he is an expert in big data and how it and other new technology can better human health. His work there has focused on finding solutions for everything from the acceleration of drug discovery to personalized therapies for individual patients to improving patient safety in clinical trials.
The addition of Piccone to Coriell’s leadership team bolsters the institute’s longstanding reputation as a leader in new technologies and innovation and incorporating them in the work we do each day. Those breakthroughs enable Coriell to work more quickly and more accurately than ever before.
“Coriell’s done a stellar job staying abreast of the latest trends in both technology and basic science research and it’s great to be a part of the team,” Piccone said.
Forward-thinking initiatives like the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative (CPMC) would be impossible without the technical advances across several fields. In the CPMC, research participants offer DNA samples which are sequenced, analyzed, and compared with their medical history to determine risk factors for complex diseases and which drugs are best for their genetic profile.
A project as ambitious as the CPMC would have been unthinkable 15 years ago. Only with the assistance of new technology and breakthroughs in genetics and DNA sequencing has work like this become possible.
Piccone’s background also includes a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and he is currently a member of both the MIT Educational Council and the Life Sciences Academy at IBM.
“Coriell has historically played a key role in biomedical research,” Piccone said upon joining the board. “I am honored to work with Coriell's leadership to continue to advance the frontiers of biomedical science."
