Sorena Nadaf-Rahrov MS, MMI

Sorena is a nationally recognized leader in Precision Oncology, Digital Transformation, Data Science, Translational Informatics, Genomics and multi-Omics Platforms, RWD/RWE, and Healthcare IT, possessing distinctive strategic insights that seamlessly connect and deploy solutions to advance patient outcomes, clinical care, translational research, and drug discovery. Throughout his career, he has devoted his endeavors to refining the development and execution of a Precision Medicine Information Ecosystem. At the heart of his mission is the provision of fundamental enterprise services to meet the requirements of translational and clinical research.  In 2024, his focus is on applied AI across Oncology.

Sorena currently serves as the CEO / Chief Data & Digital Officer of the Cancer Centers Informatics Society. Previously, he assumed the role of Interim Chief Data & Informatics Officer for the Alliance Clinical Trials Cooperative Group. Since 2017, Sorena has been the strategic advisor to IntegraConnect, holding positions as the President for Precision Oncology and Chief Data Officer. In these roles, he has played a key role in shaping the vision and strategic blueprint of the Precision Medicine Program and Precision Oncology Platform, with a focus on community oncology and value-based programs across the nation.

Prior to this, he held the position of Senior Vice President & Chief Informatics Officer at the City of Hope National Medical Center and the Beckman Research Institute from 2016 to 2021. During this period, he served as the inaugural Director of the Center for Informatics, where he restructured programs across Clinical and Research Informatics, Translational Bioinformatics, Data Science, and Digital Health Innovation. Additionally, Sorena played a pivotal role in the launch of the City of Hope Precision Medicine program where he contributed towards the final acquisition of TGen, now an affiliate of COH. His strategic foresight played a key role in shaping City of Hope's enterprise infrastructure, including Cancer Registries, Precision Medicine Platform (POSEIDON), multi-OMICS data management, Clinical Trials Management System, High-Performance Computing, and Bio-specimen Banking LIMS. Sorena co-led the transition to the Epic EMR platform and helped with the migration to a new PACS system SECTRA..

Prior to joining City of Hope, Sorena spent nearly a decade at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) as CIO and Associate Director for the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and UCSF's Chief Informatics Officer. During his time at UCSF, he founded the Translational Informatics Program, enabling the aggregation, exchange, and integration of distributed, multi-dimensional, and heterogeneous clinical and biomedical data across the cancer enterprise. Sorena was a key figure in the strategy and launch of the Institute for Computational Health Sciences (ICHS), where he also chaired its operational infrastructure. He helped spearhead UCSF's digital transformation, overseeing the implementation of their first EMR (Epic), CTMS, LIMS, NLP, Patient Reported Outcomes, Unified Cancer Registry, Enterprise Data Warehouse, and interoperability platforms, positioning UCSF for success in the 21st century.

Before his tenure at UCSF, Sorena devoted over 12 years to Vanderbilt University. In this capacity, he served as inaugural CIO and Director of Clinical and Biomedical Informatics for the Vanderbilt Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center. During this period, he held a significant role as a valued member of the distinguished Thoracic Oncology Program, led by Dr. David Carbone.

Currently, Sorena is an active member of several national healthcare system and biomedical informatics boards, working groups, and review committees. He serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Experimental Biology and Medicine: Interdisciplinary Categories in Genomics, Proteomics, and Bioinformatics, as well as the JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics Journal. He has recently joined the Steering committee for CodeX. Sorena's contributions extend to the Association of American Medical Colleges Group on Information Technology Resources (GIR), and numerous CTSA and CCSG NCI Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center External Advisory Boards. He has been actively engaged within the AACI community, having served as a former Steering Committee board member. In 2017, he was recognized as one of the top 50 Healthcare IT Influencers to follow.

Lastly, he co-founded and shaped the vision and launch of “Ci4CC” – Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers, a non-profit society dedicated to Applied Informatics & Digital Technology in the field of Cancer Research. With a particular early focus on NCI-Designated Cancer Centers, Ci4CC has rapidly established itself as a leading applied National Cancer Information Network. The society has expanded its reach to encompass numerous community hospitals, oncology programs, pharmaceutical companies, and industry-leading IT and Biotech organizations.