Michael J. Becich, Associate Professor
Director of Pathology Informatics
MD, Northwestern University, 1984
PhD, Northwestern University, 1984
Phone: 412-623-3941
Email: becich@pitt.edu
Dr. Becich is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He is jointly appointed in Pathology, Information Sciences/Telecommunications and Clinical/Translational Research. He is Associate Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Co-Director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Becich's research interests are focused on the interface between clinical informatics and bioinformatics. His research is funded by the NCI, NCRR, NLM, NIDCR, CDC, TATRC and the DOD and includes clinical phenotyping of patients for genome wide association studies, tissue banking informatics and bioinformatics with a special emphasis on data sharing.
Dr. Becich obtained his MD and a PhD in Experimental Pathology from Northwestern University, and served as a staff anatomic pathologist for Washington University (St. Louis) after completing his pathology residency. At Pitt, he founded the nation's first Pathology Informatics fellowship program and the Advancing Practice Instruction and Innovation through Informatics (apiii.upmc.edu) conference. Most recently, with the leadership of Bruce Friedman, MD, he help co-found the Association for Pathology Informatics (www.pathologyinformatics.org). Dr. Becich and Dr. Friedman have combined the APIII and Labinfotech conferences to become the Pathology Informatics conference http://www.pathinformatics.pitt.edu.
Dr. Becich is a member of 14 professional societies and has contributed to over 130 papers as well as several on-line presentations. He is a member of the American College of Medical Informatics.
Recent Publications
Tenenbaum JD, Whetzel PL, Anderson K, Borromeo CD, Dinov ID, Gabriel D, Kirschner B, Mirel B, Morris T, Noy N, Nyulas C, Rubenson D, Saxman PR, Singh H, Whelan N, Wright Z, Athey BD, Becich MJ, Ginsburg GS, Musen MA, Smith KA, Tarantal AF, Rubin DL, Lyster P. The Biomedical Resource Ontology (BRO) to enable resource discovery in clinical and translational research. Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 2010 Oct 16. PMCID: 3050430
Amin W, Singh H, Pople AK, Winters S, Dhir R, Parwani AV, Becich MJ. A decade of experience in the development and implementation of tissue banking informatics tools for intra and inter-institutional translational research. Journal of Pathology Informatics. 2010; 1. PMCID: PMC2941965
Bernstam EV, Hersh WR, Johnson SB, Chute CG, Nguyen H, Sim I, Nahm M, Weiner MG, Miller P, DiLaura RP, Overcash M, Lehmann HP, Eichmann D, Athey BD, Scheuermann RH, Anderson N, Starren J, Harris PA, Smith JW, Barbour E, Silverstein JC, Krusch DA, Nagarajan R, Becich MJ, CTSA Biomedical Informatics Key Function Committee. Synergies and distinctions between computational disciplines in biomedical research: perspective from the Clinical and Translational Science Award programs. Academic Medicine. 2009 Jul; 84 (7):964-70. PMCID: PMC2884382
Dhir R, Patel AA, Winters S, Bisceglia M, Swanson D, Aamodt R, Becich MJ. A multidisciplinary approach to honest broker services for tissue banks and clinical data: a pragmatic and practical model. Cancer. 2008 Oct 1; 113 (7):1705-15. PMCID: PMC2745185
Piwowar HA, Becich MJ, Bilofsky H, Crowley RS, caBIG Data Sharing and Intellectual Capital Workspace. Towards a data sharing culture: recommendations for leadership from academic health centers. PLoS Medicine. 2008 Sep 30; 5 (9):e183. PMCID: PMC2528049
