Melissa Haendel

Melissa Haendel

Melissa Haendel is a prominent American biomedical informatician and researcher. She is known for her contributions to the field of biomedical informatics, particularly in the areas of data integration, ontology development, and translational research. Haendel is currently a professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and serves as the Chief Research Informatics Officer at the University of Colorado.

Education

Haendel received her Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of California, Davis. She then went on to earn her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Career

Haendel began her career as a postdoctoral researcher at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), where she later became a faculty member. During her time at OHSU, she played a key role in the development of the Monarch Initiative, a project aimed at integrating biological data to improve the diagnosis of rare diseases.

In 2020, Haendel joined the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus as a professor and the Chief Research Informatics Officer. Her work focuses on improving the interoperability of biomedical data and enhancing the ability to translate research findings into clinical practice.

Research and Contributions

Haendel's research interests include data integration, ontology development, and translational research. She has been instrumental in the development of several key biomedical ontologies, including the Human Phenotype Ontology and the Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology.

She is also a co-founder of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH), an international coalition aimed at accelerating the potential of research and medicine to advance human health.

Awards and Honors

Haendel has received numerous awards and honors for her contributions to biomedical informatics, including the International Society for Biocuration's Biocurator Award and the OHSU School of Medicine's Faculty Excellence in Research Award.

Selected Publications

• Haendel, M. A., et al. (2016). "The Monarch Initiative: an integrative data and analytic platform connecting phenotypes to genotypes across species." Nucleic Acids Research, 44(D1), D712-D722.
• Haendel, M. A., et al. (2014). "Uberon, an integrative multi-species anatomy ontology." Genome Biology, 15(2), R5.

Personal Life

Haendel resides in Colorado with her family. She is an advocate for open science and actively participates in initiatives aimed at improving data sharing and collaboration in the biomedical research community.

See Also

• Biomedical informatics
• Ontology (information science)
• Translational research
• Monarch Initiative
• Global Alliance for Genomics and Health