Sanford Burnham Prebys’ new cancer center director eyes more exploration of AI

In his new role as cancer center director at the Sanford Burnham Prebys medical research institute in La Jolla, Paul Boutros is hoping to use the opportunity to enable the center to — as he puts it, drawing on his Canadian background — “go where the puck is going, not where it is.”

The puck, it appears, is artificial intelligence. And with the beginning of his tenure Oct. 1, he’s focused on seeing where AI technology and forward thinking can take his team.

“I had been interviewing for the position and thinking hard about the opportunity and strategy for six to seven months … and I was just so excited to get going because I saw just how much potential for impact there was,” Boutros said.

The cancer center was established in 1981, making it part of a network of 73 “basic, clinical and comprehensive National Cancer Institute-designated centers,” according to Sanford Burnham Prebys. The center — one of only seven basic laboratory cancer centers in the nation that are focused primarily on research — and its contemporaries were established through the National Cancer Act of 1971.

Boutros, the first computational biologist to oversee one of the centers, sees its research-first approach as an opportunity to be nimble and focused.

In addition to his director role, he will serve as senior vice president of data sciences and a professor.

“Fundamentally, I’ve always been interested in data and how we can use data to drive more insight about cancer,” Boutros said. “But also that leads to a parallel interest in how we can make data-driven decisions in leadership.”

He said that interest and his experience in leadership roles raise the question: “What does the raw data tell us?”

“Because my search is very data-intensive, that leads me to be very open to using data to inform the leadership and strategic decisions I make,” Boutros said. “And in many ways, that’s ideal for trying to run a cancer center, and especially a cancer center that’s research-focused.”

Boutros’ research career began in Canada at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, where he went from a fellow to a principal investigator.

Most recently, he was interim vice dean for research and a professor in the departments of human genetics and urology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.

During his career, Boutros has published upward of 200 peer-reviewed papers. His accolades include Prostate Cancer Canada’s Rising Star in Prostate Cancer Research Award, as well as the Dorval Prize from the Canadian Cancer Society, an honor that recognizes early-career investigators.

Boutros’ work has explored the prospects of AI, machine learning and computational science as a means to design studies and analyze large sets of data.

Artificial intelligence in cancer research is promising to Boutros for two reasons, he says. First, it can accelerate the process of writing computer code and producing papers. Second, tools such as machine learning and computer science can help identify drug targets and create biomarkers that predict patient outcomes, among other capabilities.

In his new role, Boutros says he hopes to accomplish three goals — increasing the center’s AI presence, translating AI innovations into action and focusing on the next generation by increasing the center’s workforce of graduate students and setting them up for success.

He said local cancer institutions have a unique culture in that they focus less on competition and more on their common enemy — cancer itself.

“Every organization has its own culture, its own style, its own way of working,” Boutros said. “And San Diego as a whole and Sanford Burnham in particular are very suited to collegial, collaborative and supportive styles of leadership and of working together.”