Dr. Sam Volchenboum is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Associate Chief Research Informatics Officer for the Biological Sciences Division. He is the Associate Dean of Master’s Education and the Informatics Lead for the Institute for Translational Medicine. He is the Program Director for the Clinical Informatics Fellowship Program.His clinical specialty is pediatric hematology/oncology, caring for kids with cancer and diseases of the blood.
In addition to his clinical practice, he directs the Data for the Common Good, a research group dedicated to liberating and democratizing data. Their largest project, the Pediatric Cancer Data Commons, is the world’s biggest publicly-available repository for data from children with cancer. Until 2019, Dr. Volchenboum directed the Center for Research Informatics, a 40-person group that supports biological research throughout the division. As director of this center, he oversaw high-performance computing, HIPAA-compliant storage and backup, application development to support clinical trials, development and maintenance of the clinical trials management system, the clinical research data warehouse, data analytics and visualization, and bioinformatics, including high-throughput genomic analyses and machine learning.
Dr. Volchenboum has been on the UChicago faculty since 2007, and in 2009 he was named a St. Baldrick's Foundation Scholar. He received his PhD in molecular biology and MD from the Mayo Medical School. He completed his residency at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center before going to Boston for his pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. He also completed a fellowship in informatics and received his Master’s in biomedical informatics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource for genomic research in pediatric cancer and congenital anomalies.
The Gabriella Miller Kids First Data Resource for genomic research in pediatric cancer and congenital anomalies. Am J Hum Genet. 2026 Sep 03; 113(9):1788-1800.
PMID: 42607672
Childhood cancer predisposition study: a prospective registry and biorepository protocol.
Childhood cancer predisposition study: a prospective registry and biorepository protocol. BMJ Open. 2026 08 05; 16(8):e120576.
PMID: 42556843
Big Data in Pediatric Oncology: Hope, Hype, Reality.
Big Data in Pediatric Oncology: Hope, Hype, Reality. Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2026 06; 40(3):417-428.
PMID: 42270202
Lynch syndrome integrative epidemiology and genetics (LINEAGE): rationale for cohort design.
Lynch syndrome integrative epidemiology and genetics (LINEAGE): rationale for cohort design. Fam Cancer. 2026 05 06; 25(2).
PMID: 42089916
International neuroblastoma risk group consortium: a model of networking for rare cancers.
International neuroblastoma risk group consortium: a model of networking for rare cancers. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2026 Apr 01; 118(4):579-588.
PMID: 40854111
Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models: A Collaborative Relationship.
Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models: A Collaborative Relationship. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2026 May; 73(5):e32160.
PMID: 41834377
Accelerating real-world prediction and research in Alzheimer's: The M3AD study.
Accelerating real-world prediction and research in Alzheimer's: The M3AD study. Alzheimers Dement. 2026 Mar; 22(3):e71174.
PMID: 41848005
Introducing iCatalog as a clinical decision support tool for collaborative pediatric precision oncology studies.
Introducing iCatalog as a clinical decision support tool for collaborative pediatric precision oncology studies. Commun Med (Lond). 2026 Jan 23; 6(1):88.
PMID: 41571967
International neuroblastoma risk group consortium: a model of a networking for rare cancers.
International neuroblastoma risk group consortium: a model of a networking for rare cancers. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2025 Aug 25.
PMID: 40854111
The International Soft Tissue Sarcoma Consortium: The baseline analysis of rhabdomyosarcoma data.
The International Soft Tissue Sarcoma Consortium: The baseline analysis of rhabdomyosarcoma data. Cancer. 2025 Jul 15; 131(14):e35974.
PMID: 40632016