Sohrab Shah

Sohrab Shah, PhD is the Chief of Computational Oncology and holds the Nicholls-Biondi Chair in Computational Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center within the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He leads a vibrant research program focused on computational oncology, leveraging big data resources to translate biologic knowledge to clinical practice and serves as an active faculty member at Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Dr. Shah received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia in 2008. Prior to joining MSK, he served as an associate professor in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine and a senior scientist in the department of molecular oncology with BC Cancer. He was also an associate member in the department of computer science at UBC and the Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer.

Dr. Shah's research focuses on understanding cancer evolution through integrative approaches involving genomics and computational modeling. His lab investigates cancer evolution, single cell genomics and transcriptomics, mutational processes, and prediction of drug response. The Shah Lab develops computational methods for deciphering patterns of cancer evolution, with translational focus on breast and ovarian cancer. They leverage single cell technologies combined with machine learning tools to study cellular dynamics of cancer in patients before, during, and after treatment, with specific projects including spatio-temporal evolution of ovarian cancer and malignant-immune cell interactions.

Dr. Shah's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on multimodal data integration, combining genomics, imaging, and clinical data to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment prediction. His work spans breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and other malignancies, with particular emphasis on understanding tumor evolution and developing computational tools for precision oncology applications, including single cell dynamics, drug sensitivity/resistance mechanisms, and computational pathology.

Dr. Shah has received numerous prestigious awards and honors:

• Susan B Komen Scholar (2018, 2021)
• Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers (2018)
• Nicholls-Biondi Endowed Chair in Computational Oncology
• Canada Research Chair in Computational Cancer Genomics

As Chief of Computational Oncology, Dr. Shah leads a large team of computational biologists, software engineers, and researchers. His lab includes multiple instructors, research fellows, computational biologists, and graduate research assistants. He has successfully secured significant funding to support his research program and has established collaborations across MSK and with external institutions including University of British Columbia and BC Cancer. His lab actively mentors graduate students through the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School and Tri-Institutional Computational Biology & Medicine program.

The Shah Lab is housed within MSK's newly created Computational Oncology Research Campus on the Upper East Side of New York, in close proximity to Memorial Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Rockefeller University. The lab maintains active collaborations with clinicians and researchers across MSK, with a strong focus on translating computational findings into clinical applications. Dr. Shah also serves as a recruitment point for new faculty positions in computational oncology at MSK.