Belinda S. Akpa, PhD
Associate Professor and Director of Data Sciences & AI
University of Tennessee Chemical & Biomolecul...
National Institute for Modeling Biological Systems
Akpa Provides Chemical Insights through Mathematical Modeling
Accelerating Therapeutics for Opportunities in Medicine (ATOM) Consortium
Akpa’s NSF Grant Blends Investigation, Innovation, and Inspiration
DOE scientist highlight
NIMBioS Brag Book - 2024
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I use computational approaches to accelerate the discovery of explanatory bio-models and support biological decision making under mechanistic uncertainty. Within this overarching theme, my work has the following three emphases: (1) the type of challenge: ‘tiny-data’ modeling (2) the type of process: integrative, iterative collaboration with experimental biologists; and (3) the desired outcome: multiscale hypothesis formulation for targeted biological experiments and actionable insights for design and intervention.
Current Roles
Current Roles
- Associate Professor, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering – Leading a federally funded research program in quantitative systems physiology, spanning plant and human systems
- Director of Data Sciences and AI, National Institute for Modeling Biological Systems
- Systems Modeling Lead, ATOM Consortium – Developing quantitative systems pharmacology strategies to predict human-level therapeutic outcomes for AI-driven drug discovery
Education and Training
- PhD in Chemical Engineering with Advanced Chemical Engineering Practice, University of Cambridge/Cambridge-MIT Institute (UK)
- MEng (Hons, First Class) Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge (UK)
- BA (Hons) in Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge (UK)
Prior Roles
- Senior Research Scientist, Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Assistant Professor of Integrated Synthetic & Systems Biology, Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program & Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, North Carolina State University
- Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
Leadership philosophy
Leadership is intentionally establishing norms that allow others to bring their full selves into a space such that a group of individuals becomes more than the sum of their parts – augmenting the group’s ability to identify and achieve collective goals, while respecting the lived experience, motivations, and aspirations of individual members.
Leadership is intentionally establishing norms that allow others to bring their full selves into a space such that a group of individuals becomes more than the sum of their parts – augmenting the group’s ability to identify and achieve collective goals, while respecting the lived experience, motivations, and aspirations of individual members.