Broad Institute Names Matthew Trunnell New CIO

By Bio-IT World Staff  

December 18, 2012 | Matthew Trunnell has been named the new chief information officer (CIO) of the Broad Institute, effective January 4, 2013.

Trunnell replaces Martin Leach, who is taking up a new position as vice president of R&D IT at Biogen Idec after some 18 months at the Broad.

Trunnell moved into bioinformatics relatively late, having originally trained in physical oceanography and geophysics. He worked at Genome Therapeutics Corporation and a consulting firm, Blackstone Computing, helping establish a life sciences IT consulting practice that evolved into the BioTeam.

Trunnell joined the Broad in 2006 after a stint at the Swiss bioinformatics company Genedata. He has overseen dramatic growth of the Broad’s data center and has been at the forefront of evaluating new data storage paradigms.

“If we just waited for the roads to be ploughed, it would be really easy, but we have to white-knuckle it now,” Trunnell said last year.

“I am very grateful that [Trunnell] has agreed to move into the CIO role, and I look forward to working closely with him for years to come,” said Broad deputy director Alan Fein in an email to staff announcing the new appointment.

At Biogen Idec, Leach will shape a new data sciences group, bridging responsibility in computational biology and translational research. Leach will fill the void left by the departure of Rainer Fuchs, who left the biotech firm after nearly two decades to become CIO of Harvard Medical School.

For Leach, it is a return to the biopharma industry he has served with earlier stints at Merck and CuraGen. He will report to Biogen Idec CIO Ray Pawlicki.