Lynda Chin

Dr. Lynda Chin, born in China in 1968, immigrated with her family to the United States at the age of 15. She excelled academically, graduating as valedictorian from Franklin D. Roosevelt High School in 1984. She went on to earn her B.S. in neuroscience magna cum laude from Brown University in 1988, followed by her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1993. Her postgraduate clinical and scientific training was completed at New York–Presbyterian Hospital, where she also served as chief resident of dermatology from 1994 to 1997. Dr. Chin’s early career focused on establishing herself as a physician and researcher, laying the groundwork for her future contributions to cancer genomics.

Dr. Chin’s career progression highlights significant contributions to cancer genomics and personalized medicine. From 1999, she was a distinguished member of the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute’s Department of Medical Oncology, and a professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. During this period, she served as a Senior Associate Member of the Broad Institute, where she was the principal researcher of the Genome Data Analysis Center in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project. She was also elected scientific director of the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science at Dana–Farber and co-led the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center’s Melanoma Program. In 2002, she co-founded AVEO Pharmaceuticals, a cancer biotechnology company, and later, in 2007, founded Metamark Genetics, a cancer diagnostic company.

In 2011, Dr. Chin joined the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she became the founding chair of the first-ever Department of Genomic Medicine and scientific director of the Institute for Applied Cancer Science. She was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies in late 2012. Her work involved leading initiatives to develop technology-enabled platform capabilities to accelerate translation and democratize evidence-based care. Later, as Chief Innovation Officer of the University of Texas System, she established the Institute for Health Transformation, focusing on technology-enabled ecosystems to improve healthcare access. Dr. Chin has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and delivered over 300 national and international conference presentations, including at Tedmed. She is also a co-founder and CEO of Apricity Health, a precision oncology company.