Ashutosh Singhal

About

I serve as Chief Data Officer and Associate Vice President of Clinical Data Stewardship at Meharry Medical College (MMC). I am responsible for establishing our institution as a self-reliant and data-driven healthcare system through developing the data strategy and implementation of advanced technology infrastructure and building the AI/ML framework. I spearheaded the successful implementation of Meharry's first Cloud Infrastructure on Azure in 2021. This initiative fortified our data ecosystem, enhancing data accessibility, scalability, and security. In tandem, we established a state-of-the-art High-Performance Computing (HPC) Facility through substantial grants from NSF and HRSA, propelling data science research and education across multiple domains, including genomics, drug discovery, and precision medicine. These milestones have significantly expanded our AI/ML capabilities, positioning us at the forefront of advanced data-driven research and innovation. In recognition of the transformations we made, I was honored with the “CDO of the Year” award by the Nashville Tech Council in 2025.
My research program is focused on combining diverse data sources to solve chronic disease interventions and patient care. I contributed to developing NSF-CREST Center for AI/ML Research, that have enhanced institutional research capabilities. In the RAPID-LHS Center, RCMI Program, and ECSTATIC project, I supported the development of infrastructure and methodologies in promoting inclusivity in health data research and ethical AI use and algorithmic fairness. As a site Principal Investigator (PI) and Governance Lead of Meharry's STAR CRN network of PCORnet, I oversee all facets of clinical data management and analytics, acting as the pivotal interface between STAR CRN leadership, Clinical and Translational Research Center, and other stakeholders. I manage the feasibility and execution of clinical data operations and shape and implement data governance principles across Meharry's EHR systems and cloud ecosystem. These experiences align closely with the grant’s mission to advance health care AI/ML innovation that is human-centered and ethical. My journey is underpinned by a profound belief in the potential of big data to revolutionize both macro-level population health and micro-level evidence-based precision medicine. I recognize that the ability to unlock actionable insights from complex, diverse data sets and often siloed data sources is a game-changer in healthcare. I have an interdisciplinary experience of over 20 years in genomics, biomedical or clinical data science, health data infrastructure development and management, and cloud and on-prem HPC infrastructure development. My education, PhD in genomics and training from prestigious institutions, such as data science training at the NSS, clinical research training at the NIH, and executive leadership in data from UC Berkeley helped me to stay at the forefront of healthcare data science. As part of my role as Assistant Professor of Biomedical Data Science at the SACS and PI of the AIM-AHEAD-ABC-EE program, I play a pivotal role in translating data into actions to improve health outcomes and advancing ethical AI in healthcare.

Employment

• Meharry Medical College Chief Data Officer, AVP Clinical Data Stewardship and Assistant Professor Biomedical Data Science
  2020 - Present
• Meharry Medical College Director, Medical Research Development and Strategy
  2020 - 2021
• Meharry Medical College Research Scientist
  2014 - 2020
• University of North Texas Health Science Center Postdoctoral Research Associate
  2010 - 2014

Education

• CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute Ph.D.
  2003 - 2010
• Gurukula Kangri vishwavidyalaya M.Sc.
  2000 - 2002
• Mukand Lal National College B.Sc.
  1997 - 2000

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (22)

• Personalized Type 1 Diabetes Management: Reinforcement Learning–Based Insulin Dosing and Glucose Forecasting
  JMIR Diabetes 2026 DOI: 10.2196/79195
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• Data Preprocessing Techniques for AI and Machine Learning Readiness: Scoping Review of Wearable Sensor Data in Cancer Care
  JMIR mHealth and uHealth 2024 DOI: 10.2196/59587
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• A Case Study of Enhancing the Data Science Capacity of an RCMI Program at a Historically Black Medical College
  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2023 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20064775
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• Arrhythmia Variant Associations and Reclassifications in the eMERGE-III Sequencing Study
  Circulation 2022 DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.055562
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• Data Science to Enhance Research Capacity of a Research-Intensive Medical College
  Proceedings - 2022 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2022 2022 DOI: 10.1109/CSCI58124.2022.00388
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• Arrhythmia variant associations and reclassifications in the eMERGE-III sequencing study
  medRxiv 2021 DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.30.21254549
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• 2-Hydroxypropyl-gamma-cyclodextrin overcomes NPC1 deficiency by enhancing lysosome-ER association and autophagy.
  Scientific reports 2020 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-65627-4
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• Hydroxypropyl-beta and -gamma cyclodextrins rescue cholesterol accumulation in Niemann-Pick C1 mutant cell via lysosome-associated membrane protein 1.
  Cell death & disease 2018 DOI: 10.1038/s41419-018-1056-1
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• Cyclodextrins: Assessing the Impact of Cavity Size, Occupancy, and Substitutions on Cytotoxicity and Cholesterol Homeostasis
  Molecules 2018 DOI: 10.3390/molecules23051228
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• Bortezomib augments lymphocyte stimulatory cytokine signaling in the tumor microenvironment to sustain CD8+T cell antitumor function
  Oncotarget 2017 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.14365
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