Timothy Galitski, PhD

Tim Galitski is a systems biologist committed to the fundamental transformation of biomedicine into an information-based enterprise. The future of precision medicine motivates him. In the year 2000, Galitski joined several colleagues starting up the pioneering Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), where he was a Professor for ten years. Remaining an Affiliate Professor at ISB, he accepted a position as a Science & Technology executive with Millipore Corporation. He led and collaborated with many teams developing new technologies, products, and businesses. Today, he is an Affiliate Professor of the Institute for Systems Biology and the Principal of Great Bay Bioscience, LLC, based in the greater Boston area.

Cross-Disciplinary R&D

With many years of experience in academic and commercial R&D, Galitski has led numerous cross-disciplinary teams at all stages from academic research, through commercial development, and support of sales in global markets. He leads by collaborating, teaching, and upholding high expectations.

A high-performing innovation team has intersecting capabilities and cross-disciplinary understanding. Galitski energetically cultivates such teams. He has cross-trained biologists, physicists, engineers, and software developers. His trainees are leaders in computational genetics, biotechnology, and software engineering.

The products of Galitski's work typically have disease-biology, engineering, and computational dimensions. His academic teams have published cross-disciplinary work integrating genetics, cell biology, proteomics, functional genomics, high-throughput cell imaging, molecular-network interactions, and phenotype data. His commercial teams have devloped numerous technologies in microfluidics, cell biology, biosample separation and preparation, and analyte measurement.

Science & Tech Strategy

As a consultant and advisor to Biotech, Venture Capital, and Government Agencies, Galitski has helped diverse oganizations formulate their Science & Tech strategies to meet their goals. Organizations seek his input for the benefit of his strategic cross-disciplinary expertise and transformative leadership. For example, he co-authored a National Academies report recommending that the US Government promote the convergence of biological science with physical sciences, engineering, and computation as a central component of our National R&D strategy.

Transformative Leadership

When the Institute for Systems Biology was founded, there were few people in the world thinking about systems biology and precision medicine. With ISB colleagues, Galitski coauthored a field-launching paper setting out the transformative program of systems biology. Today, there are university departments, research journals, conferences, grant programs, government initiatives, and companies dedicated to the field.

This transformative influence extends well beyond academia. The cross-disciplinary convergence recommended in the National Academies report mentioned above was named by the National Science Foundation as one of the top ten Big Ideas for the future of the nation.