Biography

Chris Hartshorn is the chief of the Digital & Mobile Technologies Section of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program Branch within NCATS’ Division of Clinical Innovation, where he manages and coordinates programmatic and research activities relevant to the section. Prior to joining NCATS, he served as a program director in the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). During his tenure at NIH, he has guided and managed multiple programs including the NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer and NIH Academic–Industrial Partnerships. A principal focus for Hartshorn has been establishing initiatives to bring care to more patients remotely by way of sophisticated multimodal analytical methods, artificial intelligence (AI), and novel biomedical technologies. For example, he represents NIH on the Computing-Enabled Networked Physical Systems Interagency Working Group (IWG) under the National Coordination Office. This IWG established a multiagency funding program — Cyber-Physical Systems — administered by the National Science Foundation.

Hartshorn is a member of the working group and executive committees for the NIH Common Fund’s Nutrition for Precision Health, powered by the All of Us Research Program, and the Bridge to Artificial Intelligence program. Through these programs, he established the AI for Multimodal Data Modeling and Bioinformatics Center and several corollary initiatives. Under an interagency memorandum of understanding — involving NCI, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — he established the Cancer Diagnostic Devices (CD²) Interagency Task Force, focused on cancer diagnostics for near-patient use. Because he has broad experience in government acquisitions, Hartshorn was invited to support the NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Programs and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children & Families, as the lead contracting officer's representative and senior project manager, respectively, during periods of national need.

Prior to joining NIH, Hartshorn was a research staff member at the National Institute of Standards and Technology for projects focused on biomedical and national security applications, as well as subsequent collaborations with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Justice, NIH, Merck and Pfizer. He earned his doctorate from Washington State University and his Bachelor of Science from The University of New Mexico, where he double-majored in chemistry and biology.

Research Topics

Hartshorn’s research interests and applications cover point-of-need diagnostics and biosensors, remotely acquired patient data (e.g., wearables, mobile platforms), multimodal informatics and clinical translation driven through public–private partnerships.