Geisinger and Penn State team up in new program to train next generation of biomedical scientists

DANVILLE, Pa. – Geisinger Health System, Penn State University and Penn State Hershey have teamed up in a $2.4-million program to train the next generation of biomedical scientists in the use of big data.

The Biomedical Big Data to Knowledge Training (B2D2K) program has been established with nearly $1.4 million in funding from the National Library of Medicine of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and more than $1 million from Penn State.

This new initiative brings together Pennsylvania data scientists, biomedical researchers and life-science researchers whose work increasingly depends on the ability to analyze, interpret and visualize very large and complex sets of data, known as "big data."

Yearly, the B2D2K program will support up to nine Penn State graduate students pursuing doctorate degrees in the realm of data analytics.  Each B2D2K trainee will be mentored by faculty members with complementary expertise in data sciences and biomedical sciences.

The Penn State B2D2K program was developed by Marylyn D. Ritchie and Penn State faculty members: Vasant Honavar and Runze Li.

Ritchie, who is director of Geisinger’s Biomedical & Translational Informatics Institute and chief research informatics officer, serves as the new program's director. She is also a professor at Penn State in the Eberly College of Science Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

"Students admitted to this training program will become a new generation of scientists who can mine mountains of complex scientific data to reveal the information buried there. This will lead to advances in genetic and other types of biological and health-related research," Ritchie said.

"The program complements the informatics research initiatives of the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health," said Neil Sharkey, Vice President for Research at Penn State. "It also leverages Penn State's strategic investments in advanced computing infrastructure through faculty hires in the data sciences."

Graduate students in the B2D2K program's inaugural group, which began training during the 2017 spring semester, are Anna Basile (biochemistry, microbiology and molecular biology), Awtum Brashear (immunology and infectious disease), Miriam Brinberg (human development and family studies), Thanh L (information science and technology), Robert Nichols (molecular toxicology), and Jaiwei Wen (statistics Ph.D. program).

The second round of trainee selections will be announced in late spring 2017. Those students will be admitted to the program in the 2017 fall semester. Eligible students may contact Associate Professor Cooduvalli S. Shashikant at css13@psu.edu to obtain more information about participating in the B2D2K program.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country.  Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.