Stanford Medicine Initiatives

Leveraging the power of Stanford Medicine, the Office of the Dean is advancing a number of initiatives to transform the science and practice of medicine for a healthier world.

Biomedical Data Science Initiative

The Biomedical Data Science Initiative is a collaborative effort between Stanford Medicine and Oxford University to use big data on a global scale to improve health across the world. Working together, we’ll accelerate discovery from large datasets, provide new insights into disease and apply targeted therapies on an unprecedented scale.

Harnessing the power of big data is a big job. This is precisely the kind of large, complex challenge at which Stanford Medicine excels. With our engines of basic and translational research, our computational expertise, our ties to Silicon Valley, our history of tackling society’s big, intractable problems and now, our partnership with Oxford University – we’ll formulate the best methods for putting big data to work for patients everywhere.

Transforming Cancer Care

“You have cancer.” 

Next year, 1.6 million Americans will hear those words, and begin the fight of their lives. They will battle an incredibly complex disease, face lengthy treatments across multiple specialties, and navigate a system of care that can seem uncoordinated, confusing, and focused on everything but them.

We can do better. 

Transforming Cancer Care is a comprehensive and unprecedented effort to put the world’s best cancer science to work for patients and deliver a new, transformative model of care. Armed with the power of Stanford’s biomedical innovation, the compassion of our caregivers, and the support of visionary philanthropic partners, we’ll turn deadly diagnoses into conditions that can be treated, managed, transcended—or maybe, prevented altogether.

A Tsunami of Medical Data

Since the advent of electronic medical records, virtually every patient leaves a detailed data trail. Prescriptions, test results, imaging studies, clinical trials data, DNA sequences and more all end up in vast databases, contributing to a flood of information that’s growing by a zettabyte (10^21 bytes or a billion terabytes) every year.

Big Data in BioMedicine Conference

The Big Data in BioMedicine Conference brings together thought leaders focused on translating vast data sets into actionable scientific knowledge.

Support a Better Way Forward

With the innovations Stanford Medicine is known for, and the support of our philanthropic partners, we will create a better way forward in cancer care.