Chair, Department of Bioinformatics

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) invites nominations and applications for the position of Chair of the Lyda Hill Department of Bioinformatics (The Department). Established in 2015, the Department is a hub for cutting-edge research at the intersection of computer science; computational and systems biology; and biomedical science in the basic, translational, and clinical realms. With a strong foundation in interdisciplinary collaboration and a commitment to innovation, the Department plays a vital role in advancing discovery at UTSW and contributing to UTSW’s clinical enterprise. As the next Chair leads the Department into its second decade, they will recruit and develop excellent faculty across all areas of bioinformatics to leverage existing strengths and grow in the fields of genetics and genomics, and artificial intelligence. 

The Chair will lead a highly collaborative and well-resourced department that includes top-tier faculty across a breadth of computational and experimental sciences. The Department’s composition is unique in the field, with experience and interests ranging from neuroscience to protein structure prediction to image acquisition and analysis to clinical decision-making. Current faculty develop new, innovative computational and microscopy tools and apply them to leading problems in biomedicine. The Department houses premier institutional resources, including BioHPC, a world-class academic high-performance computing infrastructure, the Texas Cancer Cell Imaging Core, and the Data Science Shared Resource, which enable ambitious, quantitative research. The Department benefits from more than $8 million in annual external research funding and approximately $2 million in philanthropic revenue. The Chair will guide the Department’s scientific direction, focusing its broad expertise into a cohesive and strategic vision that enhances its visibility and impact within UTSW and the global research community. 

Reporting to the Vice Provost and Dean of Basic Research, the Chair will oversee day-to-day operations and provide hands-on support for faculty research and scholarship. With a dedicated administrative team in place, the Chair will be empowered to focus on scientific leadership, faculty development, and long-term planning. This role offers the opportunity to recruit and mentor exceptional faculty, foster a vibrant academic culture, and expand the department’s research footprint through strategic partnerships across UTSW’s fundamental and clinical research units.

The successful candidate will be a scientist with a world-class research reputation and a demonstrated commitment to faculty advocacy, mentorship, and collaboration. They will bring sound judgment, fiscal acumen, and visionary leadership to a department poised for its next chapter of growth and impact. With a strong foundation and institutional support, the next Chair will have the opportunity to shape the future of bioinformatics at one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers.

Greg Esposito is leading this search with Melissa DePretto-Behan and Nicholas Strand and Victoria Castillo.