Chris Morrow

Background

About Chris Morrow

I love building things and solving complex problems. Building scientific software is a complex endeavor, it involves skillfully balancing countless factors including software architecture, stakeholder needs/desires, infrastructure, team dynamics, budgeting, end user culture, technology standards/roadmap, vendor engagement, documentation, maintainability, change management, AI integration, communication, data standards, project management, potential regulatory issues, a deep understanding of the relevant science. etc. etc. This is why so few companies do it well and why so many fall back on rigid governance processes designed to prevent failure but that in practice choke off creativity. Throughout my career, I’ve developed the skills to be able to successfully balance these countless factors to deliver scientific software in a practical way that actually meets scientists’ needs. I do this through a few primary skills: Vision - I have a fairly rare ability to look at a multi-dimensional problem and craft a comprehensive product vision that solves for people, process, technology and data. This skill applies both to individual software products and to larger informatics strategies. Stakeholder Management - I worked in a lab as a scientist: I understand drug development and discovery. Therefore, I can talk to scientists on their own terms. People Management - I love leading, managing and developing people. People can be incredibly motivated when challenged and given the freedom to innovate as long as there is sufficient vision to keep everyone pointed in the same direction. Implementation - I’ve done large implementations of GxP software where nothing can be left to chance and I’ve done quick implementations for a handful of research scientists. I use this experience to guide my employees to employ a fit-for-purpose approach to the nuts-and-bolts implementation to best meet the needs of the organization. Curiosity - I’m incredibly curious about how things work. This has led me to enter into completely new fields several times in my career - first drug development, then lab automation and later informatics. I have no doubt this curiosity will continue to evolve my career in interesting ways.