Atul Butte, M.D., Ph.D., chief data scientist at the University of California Health System, will receive the American College of Medical Informatics’ Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence at the AMIA 2024 Fall Symposium in San Francisco in November.
The award is given annually in honor of Morris F. Collen, a thought leader in the field of medical informatics. It is given to an individual whose personal commitment and dedication to medical informatics has left a lasting impression on the field.
Butte serves as the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished Professor and inaugural director of the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.
Butte previously won AMIA’s William W. Stead Award for thought leadership in computing.
AMIA noted that Butte is a long-standing leader in using all types of data to drive better decision-making and better science. He leveraged his role at UC Health by using data from all six health systems in the state of California to create something of profound impact. During the pandemic, this data helped inform decisions not only at the University of California, but across the state and country.
“Their work combining data sets from linked, yet independent, medical centers has been nothing short of visionary and transformative, as UC drives operational improvements across all pharmacies, sites of care, five National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers and more,” AMIA said.
“ACMI is proud to recognize Dr. Butte’s career, which has been defined by unwavering dedication, superhuman execution, and a strong commitment to improving patient care through the work of biomedical informatics,” ACMI President Kevin B. Johnson, MD, MS, the David L. Cohen University Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Computer and Information Sciences, Pediatrics, and Science Communication, said in a statement. “Atul begins with a passionate belief that data improves our understanding of health and health care delivery. He works tirelessly to access data and share its relevance to patient and population concerns. A great, intentional thinker, he has been a friend, mentor, and inspiration to thousands of people, including me.”
