Past VPR Distinguished Lectures

Supercomputing and Biomedical Research

Dr. Dimitri Kusnezov

Chief scientist and senior advisor, U.S. Department of Energy
September 21, 2016

Video made possible by the Washington Research Foundation. The video is from Dr. Kusnezov’s Seattle visit, but the lecture is the same.

Distinguished lecturer Dr. Dimitri Kusnezov serves as chief scientist and senior advisor to the secretary of energy in the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration. He is working to advance supercomputing technology to support major federal research, technology, and policy initiatives, among them:

• Cancer Moonshot, which aims to accelerate cancer research
• Precision Medicine Initiative, which tailors care based on an individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle
• Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, which aims to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain

During his lecture, Dr. Kusnezov provided insight into collaboration among the Department of Energy, National Institutes for Health, and National Cancer Institute to advance these initiatives. He discussed how exascale computing—computing systems capable of a billion billion calculations per second—can open new doors in biomedical research and inform high-stakes decisions related to health policy.

Read the Daily Evergreen article about his visit.