About Our Speaker
Gerald Chan is a scientist and global leader in biotechnology. In his career as a venture capitalist, he has started over a dozen companies with intellectual property spun out from universities. His work has resulted in first-in-class drugs, diagnostics, and medical devices approved by regulatory agencies for use in the clinic.
In recent years, his work has focused on using AI to develop digital biomarkers, digital diagnostics and therapeutics for dementia, autism, and behavioral disorders. Deployed at the population level, his work is changing healthcare by concurrently improving clinical outcomes for patients, lowering healthcare costs, making healthcare more accessible, and streamlining the workload of healthcare workers.
Chan was trained in engineering at UCLA and medical physics and radiation biology at Harvard University. For his contributions to science and public health, he has been awarded seven honorary degrees and elected to fellowships at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Trinity College of Cambridge University, and Wolfson College of Oxford University. He is the Honorary Professor of Translational Medicine at University of Manchester.
About the CDSS Dean’s Distinguished Lecture
The CDSS Dean's Distinguished Lecture in Computing, Data Science, and Society is designed to highlight cutting-edge, data-driven science and technology and their broader societal applications and implications. This lecture brings together thought leaders, researchers, and practitioners from diverse disciplines to explore how computing, statistics, and data science are changing the world.
Each lecture features a prominent speaker who is making significant contributions at the crossroads of technology and societal challenges. Topics may range from the ethical use of artificial intelligence, data privacy, and algorithmic fairness to the role of computing and statistics in addressing global issues such as biomedicine and health, climate and sustainability, and human welfare. The lectures underscore the importance of collaboration across fields including social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, law, engineering, and public policy, recognizing that technological advancements cannot be fully understood or leveraged without considering their full impacts.
The lecture aims to foster dialogue between students, faculty, industry leaders, and the broader academic community, encouraging critical reflection on how data-driven innovations can be developed and implemented in ways that benefit humanity. The CDSS Dean’s Distinguished Lecture highlights the responsibility of the academic and research communities to ensure that the rapid growth of computing and data science is aligned with ethical standards, inclusivity, and equity.
The College of Computing, Data Science, and Society (CDSS) hosts these lectures as a platform for sharing knowledge and ideas, providing inspiration for new interdisciplinary collaborations aimed at solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges.