传奇谢幕！纪念Atul Butte教授 | Bilingual

“Atul始终坚信，数据能够改善我们对健康的理解，以及医疗服务的提供。正是基于这一坚定的信念，他孜孜不倦地努力获取数据，揭示它们与患者和人口健康的关联。作为一位有远见的思想家，他是无数人的朋友、导师和灵感来源——包括我自己。”

——Kevin B. Johnson教授，美国医学信息学院（ACMI）主席（2020-2024）

2025年6月13日，全球知名生物医学与生物信息学家、医学信息学领域的先驱Atul Butte教授在与癌症抗争多年之后不幸离世，享年55岁。数年前Butte教授在药明康德全球论坛上畅想数据科学未来的画面还历历在目，如今辞世的消息突然传来，令人无限惋惜。Butte教授毕生致力于运用计算科学解决疾病诊断和新药研发中的关键难题。他不仅是生物信息学领域的巨匠，更是一位积极描绘计算医学未来蓝图的开拓者。

图片来源：加州大学旧金山分校Bakar计算健康科学研究所官网

Butte教授的一生，是融合科技与医学、造福患者的一生。他在麻省理工学院和哈佛医学院专攻生物医学工程学领域，并在2015年加入加州大学旧金山分校（UCSF），成为Bakar计算健康科学研究所的创始所长，将计算科学融入医疗和公共卫生等多个层面。2017年，马克·扎克伯格和普莉希拉·陈夫妇向UCSF捐赠1000万美元，支持他领导的研究工作。Butte教授还是加州大学医疗系统的首席数据科学家，通过将多家医学中心的电子健康记录进行整合，利用大数据的力量推动全球患者更快获得更有效的治疗手段。最近，他联合创立的数据驱动洞见和创新中心（CDI2）开展的一项研究，将寻找2型糖尿病潜在疗法的时间从数年缩短至数周，充分展现了真实世界临床数据蕴藏的巨大潜能。Butte教授一生发表近400篇出版物。因为在医学信息学领域的突出贡献，他于2024年被美国医学信息学会（AMIA）授予Morris F. Collen杰出成就奖，这是生物医学信息学领域的最高荣誉。

走出实验室，Butte教授将研究成果转化为多家初创企业，利用数据科学和人工智能技术，在精准医疗、诊断技术和新药开发领域掀起变革。其中，针对循环肿瘤DNA的一款检测工具，已经在乳腺癌、宫颈癌、结直肠癌等多种癌症领域展现出提前发现癌症复发、指导个体化治疗的潜力。他对科研转化和创新创业的热忱，也深深影响了他的学生与研究团队成员。他们已陆续创建了十余家新锐公司，沿着利用数据变革医学的方向继续前进。

▲Butte教授曾在药明康德全球论坛分享数据科学如何推动新药研发的变革

在学生、同事和朋友眼中，Butte教授远不止是一名科学家。他兼具卓越的才智与温暖的人格。他笑声爽朗，善于倾听，关爱他人。他坚持倡导开放数据、开放科学与开放合作。2013年，因为在推广开放科学数据与出版物方面做出的杰出贡献，时任美国总统授予其“开放科学变革先锋”（Open Science Champions of Change）荣誉称号。他的影响力，不仅体现在学术与职业成就中，更体现在每个受他启发的人身上。正如美国精准医学委员会（American Board of Precision Medicine）的精准医学主任Dexter Hadley博士所言：“因为他的存在，学生、同事、机构乃至整个医疗体系都变得更加有远见、也更具成效。”

在Butte教授的社交平台账号中，至今仍置顶着这样一句话：“世界上的数据再多，如果没有愿意运用它们的人，也将毫无意义。”（All the data in the world will not make a difference, unless there are people ready to use it.）这句话生动诠释了他一生践行的理念。Butte教授虽然离开了我们，但他为医学未来指明的道路依然清晰：用数据照亮医学的未知，用科技构筑更健康的未来。

致敬Atul Butte教授，愿您的科学梦想继续激励后来者的不懈探索、不断前行。

Farewell to a Legend: Remembering Dr. Atul Butte

“He held an unwavering belief: that data could improve our understanding of health and how care is delivered. Tirelessly, he worked to gather data and reveal its connections to patient and population health. As a visionary thinker, he was a friend, mentor, and inspiration to countless individuals — myself included.”

— Professor Kevin B. Johnson, President of the American College of Medical Informatics (2020–2024)

On June 13, 2025, the industry lost a prominent leader in biomedical science and informatics. Professor Atul Butte passed away after a years-long battle with cancer, at the age of 55. The memory of Professor Butte sharing his visionary outlook on the future of data science at the WuXi Global Forum a few years ago remains clear, making the news of his sudden passing all the more heartbreaking. A pioneer in medical informatics, he devoted his career to addressing some of the most complex challenges in disease diagnosis and drug development through the transformative power of computational science. Professor Butte was not only a distinguished figure in bioinformatics but also a visionary who helped shape the future of computational medicine.

Source: Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California San Francisco

Professor Butte’s journey was one of fusing technology with medicine — and of using that fusion to benefit patients everywhere. Trained in biomedical engineering at MIT and Harvard Medical School, he joined the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2015, where he became the founding director of the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute. There, he embedded data science into healthcare and public health across multiple dimensions. As the inaugural Chief Data Scientist for the University of California Health System, he spearheaded the integration of electronic health records from multiple medical centers — harnessing big data to accelerate the delivery of effective treatments to patients around the world. Most recently, through the Center for Data-Driven Insights and Innovation (CDI2), which he co-founded, Professor Butte led a study that dramatically shortened the timeline for identifying potential treatments for type 2 diabetes—from several years to just a few weeks—showcasing the immense untapped potential of real-world clinical data in transforming therapeutic discovery. Over the course of his life, he authored nearly 400 publications and, in recognition of his groundbreaking contributions to medical informatics, was awarded theMorris F. Collen Award of Excellenceby the American Medical Informatics Association in 2024—the highest honor in the field.

Professor Butte’s impact extended far beyond academia. A relentless innovator, he co-founded multiple companies—including Personalis, Carmenta, and NuMedii—that applied genomic data and artificial intelligence to revolutionize diagnostics, drug discovery, and precision medicine. Among his ventures, technologies such as circulating tumor DNA detection tools have shown great promise in predicting cancer recurrence and guiding individualized treatment.

Just as remarkable was the ripple effect of his mentorship—many of his students and colleagues went on to establish their own pioneering companies, continuing his mission to transform medicine through open science, computational innovation, and a steadfast commitment to improving human health.

To his students, colleagues, and friends, Professor Butte was far more than a brilliant scientist—he was a rare blend of intellectual brilliance and genuine compassion. He laughed wholeheartedly, listened with intention, and cared deeply about the people around him. A steadfast advocate of open data, open science, and open collaboration, he championed transparency and accessibility in research. In 2013, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to promoting open scientific data and publications, he was honored by the then-President of the United States as an Open Science Champion of Change. His influence extended far beyond his academic and professional accomplishments—it lived on in every individual he inspired. As Dr. Dexter Hadley, Director of Precision Medicine at the American Board of Precision Medicine, reflected, it was because of his presence that students, colleagues, institutions, and entire health systems became more visionary, more ethical, and more effective.

A simple sentence, pinned to the top of Professor Butte’s social media account, perfectly encapsulated the core belief that drove his work: “All the data in the world will not make a difference, unless there are people ready to use it.”

This guiding belief was more than a statement—it was a call to action that shaped his career and inspired those around him. Though he is no longer with us, the path he illuminated remains clear: a future of medicine powered by data, driven by technology, and anchored in a deep, unwavering commitment to advancing human health.

参考资料：

[1] UCSF Scientist Receives High Honor for Exceptional Career. Retrieved June 16, 2025, from https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2025/04/429896/ucsf-scientist-receives-high-honor-exceptional-career

[2] Atul Butte, MD, PhD, FACMI, to be awarded Morris F. Collen Award of Excellence at the AMIA 2024 Annual Symposium. Retrieved June 16, 2025, from https://amia.org/news-publications/atul-butte-md-phd-facmi-be-awarded-morris-f-collen-award-excellence-amia-2024

[3] Champions of Change: Open Science. Retrieved June 17, 2025, from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/champions/open-science

[4] Remembering Atul Butte, MD, PhD. Retrieved June 17, 2025, from https://chancellor.ucsf.edu/news/remembering-atul-butte-md-phd

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