John Brownstein, Ph.D. Closed Now

John Brownstein is a globally recognized leader in health data systems, best known for pioneering the field of digital epidemiology—the use of diverse, real-time digital data sources to track and predict disease outbreaks. He serves as Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and is a Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School. His research bridges epidemiology, informatics, and artificial intelligence, with a focus on creating scalable tools that transform raw digital data into actionable insights for public health.

Brownstein co-founded several influential digital health initiatives. Among them is HealthMap, an innovative platform that leverages online data streams to monitor global infectious disease activity, which gained international attention during the H1N1 pandemic and the early stages of COVID-19. He has also contributed to public-facing applications such as Flu Near You, enabling participatory disease surveillance by crowdsourcing flu symptom reports from the community.

In his current role at Boston Children’s Hospital, Brownstein leads efforts to integrate health data systems across clinical, research, and public health domains. His team works on building next-generation platforms that combine data from EHRs, mobile devices, and non-traditional sources like social media, search engines, and mobility patterns. His contributions extend to advising governments, the WHO, and private industry on how to responsibly leverage data science for real-time health insights.

Brownstein’s work emphasizes transparency, global collaboration, and the ethical use of data, making him one of the most influential voices in health informatics today. His vision is to create a truly interconnected health data ecosystem capable of preventing and responding to future global health threats.