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Atlanta, GA | Posted: September 6, 2016
Georgia Tech Alumnus Matt Might is uniting the world of medicine and computer science in profound new ways as a strategist for President Barack Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative.
Launched in January 2015, the White House Precision Medicine Initiative is combining advances in genomic medicine and computer science to match patients with unique treatments specific to their condition. As a strategist for the program, Might leverages his expertise in computer science to lay the scientific foundation for solving medical problems with a genetic basis.
A three-time graduate of the School of Computer Science (B.S. 2001, M.S. 2005, Ph.D. 2007), Might is a respected computer scientist. He is an associate professor at the University of Utah with an active social media presence and popular blog, and he is also a visiting associate professor at the Harvard Medical School where he focuses on clinical precision medicine. He has published more than 50 scientific papers, appeared in media interviews, and presented almost 100 talks on topics such as cybersecurity, disease discovery, drug development, precision medicine, theoretical computer science, and static analysis.
Married and the father of three children, Might’s foray into the intersection of computer science and medicine began when his eldest child become the first person diagnosed with NGLY1 deficiency, a previously undiscovered genetic disorder.
The diagnosis was made possible through a groundbreaking research experiment using exome sequencing – a then-novel technique to reveal the “code” in the human genome that creates proteins. Prior to the diagnosis, Might and his wife spent years bouncing from specialist to specialist in search of answers. His son was four years old when he was finally diagnosed in 2012. Since then, Might has been on a crusade to find a cure for his son, with early success bringing significant improvements to the quality of life for his son and a handful of other newly discovered patients.
"Computer science is a fascinating scientific discipline in its own right, and it has now also become the enabling instrument of many other fields of study. Medicine is just one example of a field that can be rapidly accelerated and re-thought in light of computation,” said Might. “I have no medical training, but the skills I learned in a computer science degree at Georgia Tech allowed me to cross disciplinary boundaries, to help my son and ultimately, I hope, to help many more."
The Might family’s odyssey was featured in The New Yorker in 2014, which ultimately led to a meeting with President Obama and began Might’s involvement with the White House’s initiative. Since March 2016, Might has been involved in an official capacity, working in the Executive Office of the President at the White House half-time so he can stay committed to finding a cure for his son.
For additional information on NGLY1, go to NGLY1.org.
