35 HPC Legends Susan Gregurick – HPCwire

Since 1987 – Covering the Fastest Computers in the World and the People Who Run Them
Since 1987 – Covering the Fastest Computers in the World and the People Who Run Them
Dr. Susan K. Gregurick has spent her career turning raw computational power into a catalyst for biomedical discovery. As Associate Director for Data Science at the National Institutes of Health, she leads the Office of Data Science Strategy, orchestrating NIH-wide efforts to harness HPC and AI for human health. 
Gregurick’s passion for molecular motion began as a math and chemistry undergraduate at the University of Michigan and deepened during her PhD studies in physical and computational chemistry at the University of Maryland. 
“I was, and still am, fascinated by the intricate dynamics of molecules as they undergo physical transformations, for example, through chemical catalysts or electronic excitation. Having the resources of HPC to address foundational questions in biophysics is inspiring,” she told HPCwire. 
After faculty appointments in computational chemistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Gregurick joined the U.S. Department of Energy, where she crafted data-sharing policy for the Genomics Science Program and launched the DOE Systems Biology Knowledgebase. Gregurick was also the Division Director for Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences at the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a role in which she reimagined national and regional technology resources, steering funding toward state-of-the-art facilities, software, and research tools that democratized access to supercomputing for life-science investigators. 
Gregurick works hard to enable new research utilizing the power of HPC through funding opportunities, new partnerships, and national initiatives. Since 2019 she has overseen NIH’s Strategic Plan for Data Science, building partnerships that range from AI-ready cloud platforms to the proposed National AI Research Resource. 
Gregurick was instrumental in guiding NIH in its data strategy during the global collection and analysis of COVID-19 data throughout the pandemic, including the utilization of multiple HPC resources (both on-prem and cloud). She received the 2020 Leadership in Biological Sciences Award from the Washington Academy of Sciences for her work in this role. 
At conferences like SC, Gregurick moves from panels and talks to one-on-one chats with researchers about their ideas, gathering insights on energy-efficient architectures and emerging bio challenges. She channels this feedback into NIH funding priorities and mentors early-career researchers, keeping HPC responsive to community needs and future talent alike. 
“I learn a lot from these engagements, including what challenges the community is facing and how best the government can address these challenges and create opportunities,” she said. 
Gregurick was awarded an HPCwire Outstanding Leadership in HPC Award in 2022. She was named a Datanami (now BigDATAwire) Person to Watch in 2022, as well as an HPCwire Person to Watch in 2021. 
Looking ahead to the next wave of discovery, Gregurick says, “I am excited by the advances made in high performance computing and artificial intelligence in the field of biomedical research.” 
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