{{Short description|French-American computational biologist}} <!-- Note to reviewers: Dr. Elemento is mentioned on the Christopher E. Mason Wikipedia page, the International Cancer Genome Consortium page, and the Lewis C. Cantley Wikipedia page (as co-founder of Volastra Therapeutics), establishing additional notability and interconnection with other notable figures --> {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Olivier Elemento | image = Headshot featuring Olivier Elemento.jpg | image_upright = 1.1 | caption = Elemento in 2024 | fields = Artificial intelligence; oncology; computational biology; genomics; precision medicine | workplaces = Weill Cornell Medicine | alma_mater = University Paul Sabatier (BS)<br>INSA Toulouse (MS)<br>University of Paris Dauphine (MS)<br>University of Montpellier (PhD) | known_for = AI applications in oncology; leadership of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine | awards = NSF CAREER Award (2012)<br>Walter B. Wriston Research Scholar (2016–2019)<br>Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2019–2024) }}
'''Olivier Elemento''' is a French-American computational biologist who directs the Caryl and Israel Englander Institute for Precision Medicine (EIPM) at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.<ref name="WCM2017">{{cite web |title=Dr. Olivier Elemento appointed director of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine |url=https://news.weill.cornell.edu/news/2017/09/dr-olivier-elemento-appointed-director-of-the-englander-institute-for-precision |publisher=Weill Cornell Medicine |date=September 15, 2017 |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> As of June 2025 he has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed publications and is listed as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher.<ref name="Clarivate">{{cite web |title=Dr. Olivier Elemento included in the Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list |url=https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/ADL-3192-2022 |publisher=Clarivate |date=November 22, 2024 |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> Elemento's work has been profiled in ''The New York Times Magazine'', NPR, ''Wired'', and other national outlets.<ref name="NYTMag2021">{{cite magazine |last=Gertner |first=Jon |title=Genome Sequencing and Covid-19 – How Scientists Are Tracking the Virus |magazine=The New York Times Magazine |date=March 25, 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/25/magazine/genome-sequencing-covid-variants.html |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref><ref name="NPR2022">{{cite news |last=Greenfieldboyce |first=Nell |title=Artificial intelligence could soon diagnose illness based on the sound of your voice |work=NPR |date=October 10, 2022 |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/10/10/1127181418/ai-app-voice-diagnose-disease |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Wired2019">{{cite magazine |last=Molteni |first=Megan |title=AI Could Scan IVF Embryos to Help Make Babies More Quickly |magazine=Wired |date=April 4, 2019 |url=https://www.wired.com/story/ai-could-scan-ivf-embryos-to-help-make-babies-more-quickly/ |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Elemento earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse.<ref name="VIVO">{{cite web |title=Olivier Elemento — VIVO profile |url=https://vivo.weill.cornell.edu/display/cwid-ole2001 |website=Weill Cornell Medicine |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> He obtained master's degrees from INSA Toulouse (mechanical engineering) and the University of Paris Dauphine (intelligent systems), then completed a doctorate in computational biology at the University of Montpellier/CNRS in 2003 under Olivier Gascuel and Marie-Paule Lefranc.<ref name="VIVO" /> He carried out post-doctoral research at Princeton University's Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics.<ref name="VIVO" />
==Career== Elemento joined Weill Cornell Medicine in 2008 and became full professor of physiology and biophysics in 2019.<ref name="VIVO" /> In September 2017 he was appointed director of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, succeeding founding director Mark Rubin.<ref name="WCM2017" /> He also serves as co-director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction alongside Christopher E. Mason.<ref name="WQIQP">{{cite web |title=WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction |url=https://eipm.weill.cornell.edu/wqiqp |publisher=Weill Cornell Medicine |access-date=August 31, 2025 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
In 2020 Elemento launched a hospital-wide whole-genome-sequencing (WGS) initiative with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Illumina. ''Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News'' described it as "the largest clinical WGS effort of its kind in the United States,"<ref name="GEN2020">{{cite news |title=Large, Clinical, Sequencing Initiative Hopes to Uncover Genetic Disease Risk |work=Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News |date=December 4, 2020 |url=https://www.genengnews.com/topics/omics/large-clinical-sequencing-initiative-hopes-to-uncover-genetic-disease-risk/ |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> and ''The New York Times Magazine'' featured the program in a major article about the transformative potential of genomic sequencing.<ref name="NYTMag2021" />
Elemento has served as a public voice on the adoption and responsible development of precision oncology and medical AI. In March 2018 ''Wired'' reported on Medicare's decision to reimburse genomic cancer testing and quoted Elemento on the mainstreaming of sequencing in care,<ref name="Wired2018">{{cite magazine |last=Molteni |first=Megan |title=With Medicare Support, Genetic Cancer Testing Goes Mainstream |magazine=Wired |date=March 20, 2018 |url=https://www.wired.com/story/with-medicare-support-genetic-cancer-testing-goes-mainstream/ |access-date=August 4, 2025}}</ref> and he later argued in a ''Wall Street Journal'' op-ed that regulation should not slow access to sequencing-based diagnostics.<ref name="WSJ2018">{{cite news |last=Elemento |first=Olivier |title=A New Regulatory Threat to Cancer Patients |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=February 25, 2018 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-new-regulatory-threat-to-cancer-patients-1519595170 |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> In 2025, he published an opinion piece in ''STAT News'' advocating for randomized controlled trials in medical AI implementation, arguing that Silicon Valley companies should be held to the same rigorous standards as traditional medical interventions.<ref name="STAT2025">{{cite news |last=Elemento |first=Olivier |title=Why Silicon Valley should demand clinical trials for its medical AI |work=STAT |date=August 28, 2025 |url=https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/28/medical-ai-randomized-controlled-clinical-trials-rcts/ |access-date=August 31, 2025}}</ref>
In September 2022 Elemento and otolaryngologist Yaël Bensoussan became co-principal investigators of ''Voice as a Biomarker of Health'', a National Institutes of Health Bridge2AI consortium.<ref name="NPR2022" /> ''The Verge'' characterized the effort as "an attempt to turn the human voice into a new vital sign."<ref name="Verge2022">{{cite news |last=Wetsman |first=Nicole |title=The sound of your voice might diagnose diseases |work=The Verge |date=September 13, 2022 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/13/23350793/human-voice-disease-ai-diagnosis |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref>
In 2024, Elemento co-chaired a workshop with Regina Barzilay convened by the National Cancer Institute, ARPA-H, and Department of Energy on "Using AI Approaches to Target Undruggable Cancer Targets," which brought together leading scientists to address one of oncology's most challenging problems.<ref name="NCIWorkshop">{{cite web |title=Using AI Approaches to Target Undruggable Cancer Targets |url=https://events.cancer.gov/nci/ai-drug-development/agenda |publisher=National Cancer Institute |date=2024 |access-date=August 31, 2025 |archive-date=February 6, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206032939/https://events.cancer.gov/nci/ai-drug-development/agenda |url-status=dead }}</ref> The insights from this workshop led to a published ''Nature Biotechnology'' commentary on redefining druggable targets with artificial intelligence.<ref name="NatureBiotech2025">{{cite journal |last1=Akinsanya |first1=Karen |last2=AlQuraishi |first2=Mohammed |last3=Boija |first3=Ann |display-authors=etal |title=Redefining druggable targets with artificial intelligence |journal=Nature Biotechnology |year=2025 |doi=10.1038/s41587-025-02770-1 |pmid=40830262 }}</ref>
Outside academia Elemento co-founded Volastra Therapeutics with Lewis C. Cantley and Samuel Bakhoum. Volastra is developing treatments targeting chromosomal instability in cancer, with two small molecules currently in Phase 1 clinical trials. The company raised $44 million in seed funding before securing an additional $60 million in Series A financing in 2023, along with a strategic partnership with Microsoft to leverage AI in addressing cancer metastasis.<ref name="FierceBiotech2022">{{cite news |title=Volastra bumps up seed round to $44M, inks Microsoft partnership to tackle cancer metastasis |work=Fierce Biotech |date=2022 |url=https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/volastra-bumps-up-seed-round-to-44m-inks-microsoft-partnership-to-tackle-cancer-metastasis |access-date=August 31, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Citybiz2023">{{cite news |title=Volastra Therapeutics Secures $60M in Series A |work=Citybiz |date=March 7, 2023 |url=https://www.citybiz.co/article/389421/volastra-therapeutics-secures-60m-in-series-a/ |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref>
Three of his doctoral students have been recognized on Forbes 30 Under 30: Tomer Yaron-Barir, Kaitlyn Gayvert, Neel Madhukar. Kaitlyn Gayvert and Neel Madhukar were named to the Healthcare list in 2016 for work completed in his lab.<ref name="Forbes2016">{{cite news |title=30 Under 30 2016: Healthcare – Kaitlyn Gayvert & Neel Madhukar |work=Forbes |date=January 5, 2016 |url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2016/healthcare/ |access-date=August 4, 2025}}</ref> Tomer Yaron-Barir was recognized on ''Forbes'' "30 Under 30: Science" in 2024 for co-inventing the Kinase Library under the joint supervision of Elemento and Lewis C. Cantley.<ref name="ForbesTomer2024">{{cite news |title=Tomer Yaron-Barir |work=Forbes 30 Under 30: Science |date=2024 |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/tomer-yaron-barir/ |access-date=September 25, 2025}}</ref>
==Research highlights== Elemento's laboratory combines high-throughput sequencing, single-cell technologies and machine learning.
* '''Artificial-intelligence approaches in oncology''' – Developed the machine-learning model PrOCTOR for predicting clinical-trial toxicity.<ref name="DDN2016">{{cite news |last=Yeates |first=Mel J. |title=PrOCTOR prediction: 'Moneyball' approach may help predict new drug toxicity in humans |work=Drug Discovery News |date=December 12, 2016 |url=https://www.drugdiscoverynews.com/proctor-prediction-11144 |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> He presented related work in the opening-plenary lecture at AACR Virtual Annual Meeting II (June 22, 2020).<ref name="AACR2020">{{cite news |title=AACR Virtual Annual Meeting II: Opening Plenary Captures the Breadth of Cutting-edge Cancer Research |work=American Association for Cancer Research |date=June 22, 2020 |url=https://www.aacr.org/blog/2020/06/22/aacr-virtual-annual-meeting-ii-opening-plenary-captures-the-breadth-of-cutting-edge-cancer-research/ |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref>
* '''AI embryo assessment''' – Contributed to STORK, a computer-vision system (led by Iman Hajirasouliha) that outperformed embryologists at grading IVF embryos; the study was profiled in ''Wired''.<ref name="Wired2019" />
* '''Spatial-omics of disease''' – Led development of UTAG, an unsupervised algorithm for tissue-architecture mapping.<ref name="UTAG2022">{{cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Junbum |last2=Rustam |first2=Samir |last3=Mosquera |first3=Juan M. |last4=Randell |first4=Scott H. |last5=Shaykhiev |first5=Renat |last6=Rendeiro |first6=André F. |last7=Elemento |first7=Olivier |title=Unsupervised discovery of tissue architecture in multiplexed imaging |journal=Nature Methods |year=2022 |volume=19 |issue=12 |pages=1653–1661 |doi=10.1038/s41592-022-01657-2 |pmid=36316562 |pmc=11102857}}</ref> He also co-led a ''Nature'' atlas of COVID-19 lung pathology.<ref name="Nature2021">{{cite journal |last1=Rendeiro |first1=André F. |last2=Ravichandran |first2=Hiranmayi |last3=Bram |first3=Yotam |last4=Chandar |first4=Varun |last5=Kim |first5=Jason |last6=Meydan |first6=Cem |last7=Park |first7=Jun |last8=Foox |first8=Jenny |last9=Hether |first9=Tyler |last10=Warren |first10=Scott |last11=Kim |first11=Yoo-Kyung |last12=Reeves |first12=Jason |last13=Salvatore |first13=Saul |last14=Mason |first14=Christopher E. |last15=Swanson |first15=Elizabeth C. |last16=Borczuk |first16=Alain C. |last17=Elemento |first17=Olivier |last18=Schwartz |first18=Robert E. |title=The spatial landscape of lung pathology during COVID-19 progression |journal=Nature |year=2021 |volume=593 |issue=7859 |pages=564–569 |doi=10.1038/s41586-021-03475-6 |pmid=33780969 |pmc=8204801 |bibcode=2021Natur.593..564R }}</ref> In 2025, ''amfAR INNOVATIONS'' interviewed Elemento about applying these AI and spatial-omics methods to HIV research.<ref name="amfAR2025">{{cite web |title=AI, Cancer, and HIV – An interview with Dr. Olivier Elemento |work=amfAR INNOVATIONS |date=May 29, 2025 |url=https://www.amfar.org/news/ai-cancer-and-hiv/ |access-date=August 4, 2025}}</ref>
==Leadership and advisory roles== * Board of Scientific Counselors, National Cancer Institute.<ref name="NCIBSC">{{cite web |title=Board of Scientific Counselors Members |date=April 2, 2025 |url=https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/advisory-boards/bsc/members |publisher=National Cancer Institute |access-date=August 31, 2025}}</ref> * Executive Committee member, International Cancer Genome Consortium ARGO (Accelerating Research in Genomic Oncology).<ref name="ICGCARGO">{{cite web |title=ICGC-ARGO Executive Committee |url=https://www.icgc-argo.org/page/executive-committee |publisher=International Cancer Genome Consortium |access-date=August 31, 2025 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> * Co-investigator, SAMBAI (Societal, Ancestry, Molecular and Biological Analyses of Inequalities) Cancer Grand Challenge.<ref name="CancerGrandChallenge">{{cite web |title=Dr. Olivier Elemento - SAMBAI Team |url=https://www.cancergrandchallenges.org/dr-olivier-elemento |publisher=Cancer Grand Challenges |access-date=August 31, 2025}}</ref> * Scientific Review Council member, Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance.<ref name="Pershing">{{cite web |title=Scientific Review Council |url=https://pershingsquarephilanthropies.org/initiatives/programs/PSSCRA/page/scientific-review-council |publisher=Pershing Square Philanthropies |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> * Board member, Advancium Health Network.<ref name="Advancium">{{cite web |title=Leadership |url=https://www.advanciumhealth.org/leadership |publisher=Advancium Health Network |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> * Scientific Advisory Board member, Owkin.<ref>{{cite web |title=People |url=https://www.owkin.com/people |publisher=Owkin |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> * Scientific Advisory Board member, Harmonic Discovery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Team |url=https://www.harmonicdiscovery.com/team |publisher=Harmonic Discovery |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> * Scientific Advisory Board member, Pannex Therapeutics.<ref>{{cite web |title=Team |url=https://pannextherapeutics.com/about-us/ |publisher=Pannex Therapeutics |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref>
==Awards and honours== * NSF CAREER Award (2012).<ref name="NSFCAREER">{{cite web |title=Dr. Olivier Elemento awarded NSF CAREER grant |url=https://physiology.med.cornell.edu/dr-olivier-elemento-was-awarded-an-nsf-career-grant-the-national-science-foundations-most-prestigious-award/ |publisher=Weill Cornell Medicine |date=2012 |access-date=June 11, 2025}}</ref> * Walter B. Wriston Research Scholar, Weill Cornell Medicine (2016–2019).<ref name="VIVO" /> * Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher (2019–2024).<ref name="Clarivate" />
==Selected publications== * Elemento O.; Khozin S.; Sternberg C.N. (2025). "The Use of Artificial Intelligence for Cancer Therapeutic Decision-Making." ''NEJM AI''. doi:10.1056/AIra2401164. * Akinsanya K.; AlQuraishi M.; Boija A.; et al. (2025). "Redefining druggable targets with artificial intelligence." ''Nature Biotechnology''. doi:10.1038/s41587-025-02770-1. * Bhinder B.; Gilvary C.; Madhukar N.S.; Elemento O. (2021). "Artificial Intelligence in Cancer Research and Precision Medicine." ''Cancer Discovery'' '''11''': 900–915. doi:10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-0090. * Rendeiro A.F.; Ravichandran H.; Bram Y.; Chandar V.; Kim J.; Meydan C.; Park J.; Foox J.; Hether T.; Warren S.; Kim Y.; Reeves J.; Salvatore S.; Mason C.E.; Swanson E.C.; Borczuk A.C.; Elemento O.; Schwartz R.E. (2021). "The spatial landscape of lung pathology during COVID-19 progression." ''Nature'' '''593''': 564–569. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03475-6. * Gayvert K.; Madhukar N.S.; Elemento O. (2016). "A data-driven approach to predicting successes and failures of clinical trials." ''Cell Chemical Biology'' '''23''' (10): 1294–1301. doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2016.07.023.
==Personal life== Elemento was born and raised in France and holds dual French-American citizenship.<ref name="VIVO" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{official}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Elemento, Olivier}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Cornell University faculty Category:21st-century American biologists Category:American people of French descent Category:21st-century French biologists