The scientific and medical communities are mourning the death of Dr. Atul Janardhan Butte, a pioneering biomedical informatician, pediatrician, and biotechnology entrepreneur, who passed away on June 13, 2025, at the age of 55. Dr. Butte died following a brave battle with cancer, leaving behind a remarkable legacy in data-driven health innovation and mentorship.
At the time of his death, Dr. Butte served as the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he also led as the inaugural Director of the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute. He was also the Chief Data Scientist for the entire University of California Health System, overseeing data strategy across 20 health professional schools and 10 hospitals.
Born in Philadelphia to Janardhan and Mangala Butte, Atul’s early promise was evident. He pursued computer science at Brown University and was accepted into the university’s Liberal Medical Education program, earning his MD in 1995. He later completed a Ph.D. in Health Sciences and Technology from the Harvard–MIT program, studying under Dr. Isaac Kohane. His medical training included a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
A champion of biomedical big data, Dr. Butte first rose to national prominence at Stanford University, where he was Chief of the Division of Systems Medicine. In 2012, he delivered a TEDMED talk showcasing how publicly available data could revolutionize biomedical discovery—ideas that later influenced the founding of companies like Personalis and NuMedii. He was widely recognized for using artificial intelligence to accelerate precision medicine, even before the term became mainstream.
Over his career, Dr. Butte authored foundational works in genomics, held an h-index of over 110 with 70,000+ citations, and mentored countless scientists, researchers, and clinicians. His influence extended beyond academia—he served as advisor to biotech firms, sat on numerous scientific boards, and actively championed diversity in science, often declining to serve on male-only panels.
Colleagues and mentees are now paying tribute to his enduring impact. Karen Sachs remembered him as “one of the kindest, most outreach-focused professors” who took time for everyone, even those outside his immediate circles. “RIP Atul, you’re appreciated, and you will be missed,” she wrote.
Rong Chen, one of his first lab members at Stanford, recalled:
“In every single meeting I had with Atul, no matter how puzzled I was to enter, I was always inspired and energetic to come out. He had the magic wand to understand a problem and inspire solutions. We have lost a hero in bioinformatics and precision medicine.”
Dr. Butte is survived by his wife, Dr. Gini Deshpande, a biotech entrepreneur and CEO of NuMedii, and their daughter. His brother, Dr. Manish J. Butte, is a professor of pediatrics at UCLA.
In honoring Dr. Butte’s memory, UCSF and peers across institutions will continue the work he so passionately began—ensuring that big data drives big changes in global health.
Funeral arrangements and a public memorial service will be announced by the family in the coming days. The scientific world has lost a brilliant mind, but his vision and contributions will echo for generations to come.