Avrum Spira

Avrum Spira is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Computational Biomedicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). He also serves as Director of the Boston University – Boston Medical Center Cancer Center and leads the Translational Bioinformatics Program at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

• Education: MD (University of Toronto, 1996), MSc in Bioinformatics (Boston University, 2002)

Dr. Spira’s research focuses on applying genomic and bioinformatics tools to study lung cancer and COPD, particularly the "field of injury" concept in airway epithelial cells. His work has led to the development of bronchial and buccal gene-expression biomarkers for early lung cancer detection and COPD monitoring, with funding from the NIH (NCI, NHLBI, NIEHS) and the Department of Defense. He has pioneered RNA-Seq analysis of airway transcriptomes and explored drug repurposing for COPD through gene signature analysis.

His publications highlight collaborations across institutions, emphasizing translational applications of molecular profiling in clinical settings and population studies. Dr. Spira also contributes to education and diversity initiatives within the Department of Medicine.