Simona Cristea, PhD

Simona Cristea, PhD, is the Head of Data Science at the Hale Family Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and a Research Scientist in the Department of Data Science at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is leading a team of data scientists and mathematical modelers to disentangle large single cell cancer genomics data by connecting AI-driven data analysis with mechanistic evolutionary modeling. Simona is particularly interested in understanding the earliest malignant transformations happening during tumor progression and identifying novel ways to prevent tumors from initiating.
 
Simona earned Master and PhD degrees from ETH Zurich in Switzerland, further trained as a postdoctoral fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and held an Instructor faculty position at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute until 2022. Outside the lab, Simona enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, outdoor activities, poke bowls and dark chocolate.