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Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine

Welcome to the Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine, home for students, researchers, and faculty who are committed to biomedical scientific discovery using AI and informatics. Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine focuses on molecular, cellular, and organ levels of the human biological system. We study genes, proteins, cells, biological networks, and images and integrate them with clinical and population data to address fundamental challenges in patient care.

Whether you are a prospective student, a potential collaborator, or a member of the public interested in the future of healthcare, we invite you to explore our work and join us.

 

VISION STATEMENT: BE AN AVID LEADER IN THE FIELD OF BIOINFORMATICS AND SYSTEMS MEDICINE FOR RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND BIOMEDICAL DISCOVERY

 

MISSION

We aim to transform healthcare by:

leadership

LEADERSHIP

Cultivating future leaders in bioinformatics and precision medicine.

innovation

INNOVATION

Developing and applying groundbreaking AI and informatics methods to tackle the most pressing challenges in biology and medicine.

collaboration

COLLABORATION

Empowering basic and translational biomedical research through synergistic collaboration using informatics.

 

 

Core Values

  • Innovation: Pioneering breakthroughs in bioinformatics and precision medicine.
  • Impact: Driving discoveries that redefine our understanding of biological systems, expand the frontiers of biomedical research, and catalyze transformative scientific progress.
  • Collaboration: Bringing together local and global experts to address complex biomedical problems using informatics.
  • Collegiality: Fostering an inclusive and supportive environment where mutual respect, open dialogue, and shared learning thrive.

 

FACULTY


Degui Zhi, PhD, MS
Degui Zhi, PhD, MS

Professor

Chair, Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine

Xiangning Chen, PhD, MS
Xiangning Chen, PhD, MS

Professor

Research Areas: Genetics and Genomics Study of Psychiatric Disorders, Biomarker Discovery, Disease Risk-Modeling, Evaluation and Prediction

Yulin Dai, PhD
Yulin Dai, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Tissue/Cell type specificity in complex disease, Multi-Omics Data Integration


Wankun Deng, PhD
Wankun Deng, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Machine Learning, Data Mining, and Transcriptomics and Proteomics


Luca Giancardo, PhD
Luca Giancardo, PhD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Image Signal Processing, Machine Learning, Translational Medicine

Assaf Gottlieb, PhD
Assaf Gottlieb, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Image/Signal Processing, Machine Learning, Translational Medicine

Arif Harmanci, PhD, MS
Arif Harmanci, PhD, MS

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Information Extraction, Functional Genomics, Genomic Privacy

Pora Kim, PhD, MS
Pora Kim, PhD, MS

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Precision Medicine, Biological Database

Hui Li, PhD
Hui Li, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Image processing, Clinical and Translational Research, Clinical Natural Language Processing (NLP) ...

Zhao Li, PhD
Ardalan Naseri, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Algorithms, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, and Population Genetics

Jinlian Wang, PhD
Jinlian Wang, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Rare disorders NGS data annotation ...

Xiaosheng Wang, PhD
Xiaosheng Wang, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Medical genomics, Systems biology, Cancer research, Machine learning

Jianguo Wen, PhD
Jianguo Wen, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Cancer immunotherapy, Cancer Nucleic Acid Therapy

Hulin Wu, PhD, MS
Hulin Wu, PhD, MS

Professor

Research Areas: Biostatistics, Computational Biology, Computational Modeling, Bioinformatics Tools

Ziqian Xie, PhD
Ziqian Xie, PhD

Associate Professor

Research Areas: Deep learning, Imaging genetics, Predictive modeling

Lei You, PhD
Lei You, PhD

Assistant Professor

Research Areas: Image Processing, Deep Learning, Human-Machine Interaction

Zhongming Zhao, PhD, MS
Zhongming Zhao, PhD, MS

Professor

Research Areas: Precision Medicine, Bioinformatics, Pharmacogenomics

W. Jim Zheng, PhD
W. Jim Zheng, PhD

Professor

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Systems Biology, Genomics

Xiaobo Zhou, PhD
Xiaobo Zhou, PhD

Professor

Research Areas: Bioinformatics, Systems Biology, Imaging Informatics

Career Outlook

We crunched the numbers and they don't lie.

Career Outcomes for Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine
  Average Salary Average Salary Range
Houston $157,160 $77,000 - $286,000
Texas $110,088 $58,000 - $257,000
Nationwide $143,698 $86,000 - $298,057
Positions
Medical Technologist Research Scientist Bioinformaticist
Bioinformatics Engineer Bioinformatician Bioinformatics Analyst
Systems Biologist Medical Assistant Bioinformatics Associate

Updated: 06/16/2025