By combining mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, and machine learning, with experimental, epidemiological, and DNA sequencing data, Dr. Tomasetti has provided the first quantitative evidence for the large role in cancer causation played by the normal, i.e. endogenous, accumulation of somatic mutations in the cells of the human body.
As an applied mathematician, he currently leads the effort to develop classification algorithms for the early detection of cancer via a simple blood test.
His work is recognized internationally for his paradigm-shift contributions to the current understanding of cancer etiology and tumor evolution. He has published more than 40 papers, with several leading and corresponding author papers in Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. Altmetric, a data science service that tracks where published research is mentioned online ranked three of his papers — all published in the journal Science — #4, #15, and #22 for the attention they received among any research paper published in any scientific field for the years 2015, 2017, and 2018, respectively.
Dr. Tomasetti holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park (Dec. 2010).
Before joining City of Hope and TGen, he was an Associate Professor of Oncology and Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University with appointments in the Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, in both the Department of Oncology (Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center) and the Department of Biostatistics (Bloomberg School of Public Health).
After his Ph.D., he was a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biostatistics of the Harvard School of Public Health and in the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Jan. 2011 – Jun. 2013), after which he became a faculty member at Hopkins.
