Patrick McMullen, PhD

Patrick McMullen, PhD, is the Director of Bioinformatics at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. In this role, he works with the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine’s Molecular Diagnostics Lab to develop and optimize computational workflows for Lurie Children’s clinical genomic testing. He also is a leader of the Quantitative Science Pillar at Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, where he works with researchers to make the best use of modern molecular and computational biology approaches. In these capacities he serves the clinical and research communities with his expertise in genomics, scientific programming, data analytics, and pharmacogenomics. Prior to coming to Lurie Children’s, Dr. McMullen served as ScitoVation’s Director of Computational Toxicology, where he made use of large datasets and mathematical modeling to address toxicology challenges. Dr. McMullen trained at Northwestern University where he developed tools at the intersection of molecular biology and chemical engineering. His specialty is leveraging high-content biological experiments (gene expression studies, high-throughput screens, imaging, and other sources) into a mechanistic understanding of the underlying biology. His data-driven approach to toxicology been instrumental in interpreting and communicating complex problems in diverse applications. Dr. McMullen manages a diverse computational biology team that uses modeling and high-content data to deepen our understanding of the interaction between genetics and human disease, with a particular focus on elucidating etiology of rare disease.