Joseph D. Romano, PhD, MPhil, MA

Joseph D. Romano is an Assistant Professor of Informatics and Pharmacology in the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. He joined the faculty in 2023 after completing postdoctoral and graduate training in Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. Broadly, his work aims to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to enhance understanding of how diverse environmental exposures (toxic chemicals, social determinants of health, pharmaceutical drugs, etc.) result in human disease.

The Romano Lab conducts original research at the interface of clinical/translational informatics and environmental health, with particular focus on developing new AI models and software tools that explain the biology underlying environmental risk factors and mechanisms of disease. We are particularly interested in techniques that integrate complex, multimodal data obtained from multiple sources to improve the performance and interpretability of predictive models. Dr. Romano leads the development of several major biomedical knowledge bases, including ComptoxAI, VenomKB, and the Alzheimer’s Knowledge Base (AlzKB). Other areas of research interest include autoimmune-related adverse events, maternal environmental health, clinical informatics, molecular machine learning, and natural products drug discovery.

Additional Appointments & Affiliations

• Associate Director, Biomedical Informatics Educational Programs
• Senior Fellow, Penn Institute for Biomedical Informatics
• CEET Investigator, Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology