Fred Hutch names Matthew Trunnell as its vice president and chief information officer

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a world leader in lifesaving research to prevent, detect and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases, announced today that it has recruited Matthew Trunnell as its vice president and chief information officer.

Trunnell for more than 15 years has worked at the intersection of information technology and life sciences research in both academic and commercial environments in support of large-scale genomics research. He will be responsible for many key areas at Fred Hutch, including research informatics and enterprise information technology, and he will begin his role Aug. 31.

Trunnell comes to Fred Hutch from Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where, as chief information officer, he has been responsible for all aspects of information technology and services. During his nine years at Broad Institute, Trunnell managed a 50-fold scale-up of research IT data infrastructure in support of next-generation sequencing and initiated a new organization comprising computational biologists and software engineers focused on developing advanced informatics capabilities.

'Fred Hutch is home to world-class scientific research, and as scientists from all fields share and integrate their findings, information technology and focused administrative systems and processes that support that collaboration are crucial,' Trunnell said. 'I'm excited to be working with senior leaders and researchers at Fred Hutch to maximize the impact of technology on scientific research and business operations.'

The Department of Information Technology at Fred Hutch includes customer service, infrastructure operations, scientific computing, informatics, solution architecture, enterprise software solutions, information security, and project and business operations. As CIO, Trunnell will be responsible for defining the future for data, informatics and information analytics across the organization. He will play a significant role in leading efforts to employ information technology to create a competitive advantage for Fred Hutch in acquiring research funding, using IT in research to advance science, and supporting administrative systems and processes.

As Fred Hutch engages in precision medicine—the use of human genome sequencing of tumors and 'big data' to inform better care for patients—the CIO will play a significant role by linking the increasingly efficient computing power with research that more and more relies on high performance computing.

'Matthew brings a balance and energy around the strategic use of IT combined with operational experience,' said Fred Hutch president and director D. Gary Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D. 'With his experience in biomedical research and informatics planning and computing, Matthew is exceptionally positioned to provide leadership in defining the future for data, informatics and information analytics across Fred Hutch.'

As clinical and comparative effectiveness research becomes a higher priority, Trunnell will work with Fred Hutch's partners—including University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle Children's and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance—to more efficiently move data between organizations.

Trunnell received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University and his master of science from the University of Washington.

Provided by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center