Associate Dean of Information Technology

Public Health, although interdisciplinary by nature, has evolved into a field that is rooted in data science. Nearly every major scientific revolution in history has been driven by one thing: data. Today, the availability of Big Data from a wide variety of sources is transforming health and biomedical research into an information science, where discovery is driven by our ability to effectively collect, manage, analyze, and interpret data.

As a biostatistician whose research focuses on analyzing large administrative data to estimate health outcomes for a variety of exposure variables, Dr. Dominici’s experience and expertise positions her to lead the effort of navigating the Big Data landscape in a way that prepares the school and its faculty to effectively manage challenges and capitalize on opportunities related to Big Data.

Odyssey Computing Cluster at the Harvard Chan School:

Odyssey is comprised of 144 racks and has 7.5 miles of CAT-5/6 cabling from access ports.
Odyssey is comprised of 144 racks and has 7.5 miles of CAT-5/6 cabling from access ports.

As Associate Dean of Information Technology, Dr. Dominici led an effort to transform the research computing landscape at the Harvard Chan School. Dr. Dominici worked closely with the senior leadership at the School of Public Health and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in February 2012 between the Harvard Chan School and the research computing (RC) department at the Faculty of Arts and Science (FASRC) within Harvard University. The MOU, which was the first of its kind, has since allowed the Chan School faculty, researchers, staff, and students to access the FAS Research Computing environment (Odyssey) and basic storage, along with software licenses. Read more about research computing at the Harvard Chan School here.

The partnership between the Chan School and Research Computing at FAS has brought scientists together across Harvard University, and has established the cutting edge research platform necessary to continue to position the Harvard Chan School and the University at large to define the frontiers of public health and biomedical science. Visit the FASRC website for more information on this groundbreaking collaboration.