Frederick National Laboratory Builds Upon Collaborations in Computational Science

FREDERICK, Md. -- Eric Stahlberg, Ph.D., has been named director of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science (BIDS) at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research in a move that will amplify his role in building partnerships in high-performance computing and data science in cancer research. There was an exceptional slate of candidates for this position, reflecting the importance of this position. Dr. Stahlberg begins his appointment on September 29.

Stahlberg has been instrumental in establishing the Frederick National Laboratory’s high-performance computing initiative and in assembling scientific teams across multiple, complex organizations to advance predictive oncology.  

“By consolidating resources and naming new leadership, the Frederick National Laboratory is in an even stronger position to build upon and extend its cross-agency collaborations in computational science,” said Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., laboratory director for the Frederick National Laboratory and president of Leidos Biomedical Research. “Our ultimate goal here is to benefit cancer patients.” He praised and thanked Dr. Braulio Cabral for “his leadership and outstanding service as our Acting Deputy Director of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science.”   

Stahlberg first joined the Frederick National Laboratory in 2011 to form and direct the National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s Center for Cancer Research Bioinformatics Core, which helped build intramural research collaborations between the national laboratory and NCI. 

Since then, Stahlberg has played a leadership role in many key partnerships, including a major collaboration between the NCI and the Department of Energy (DOE). Under the Joint Design of Advanced Computing Systems for Cancer (JDACS4C), NCI and DOE are accelerating progress in precision oncology and computing. The collaboration is rooted in three major national initiatives; the Precision Medicine Initiative, the National Strategic Computing Initiative, and the Cancer Moonshot.

“The Frederick National Laboratory is in a unique position to join others in a united effort to accelerate discoveries and pursue new treatments to benefit cancer patients through the convergence of data, science and computing,” Stahlberg said. “It’s very exciting to have this new opportunity to work alongside so many talented and dedicated individuals in existing partnerships and to develop future collaborations.”

Stahlberg has spearheaded the Frederick National Laboratory’s contributions to a number of JDACS4C projects, including ATOM and CANDLE. He helped launch and support the annual meeting series, Frontiers in Predictive Oncology and Computing. In 2017, he was recognized as one of FCW‘s Federal 100. Stahlberg holds a Ph.D. in computational chemistry from The Ohio State University.

Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research News Release