Phil Bourne (1953–2026): from small molecules to big data—the journey of a multifaceted visionary

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Born in London in 1953 and raised in Australia, Phil Bourne spent over four decades in science moving across scales: from crystal structures to the world’s premier structural biology database; from scientific journals to national data policy; from molecules to institutions. The International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) chose Phil to receive its 2026 Outstanding Service Award. He passed away on 8 March 2026, in Charlottesville, VA, before he could receive it. This piece is in memory of Phil, who most recently served as the Founding Stephenson Dean of the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science and as a Professor of Biomedical Engineering—and who was, over the course of his career, a steadfast builder of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, of Open Science and Data Science. A tribute site, https://philbourne.muchloved.com, invites those who knew Phil to share memories, photos, and reflections.

This publication has 36 references indexed in Scilit: