Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age

by Brad Smith

So how do we create a bigger opportunity for smaller players in a world where large quantities of data matter? One person who may have the answer is Matthew Trunnell. Trunnell is the chief data officer at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a leading cancer research center in Seattle named for a hometown hero who pitched ten seasons for the Detroit Tigers and managed three major league baseball teams. In 1961, Fred Hutchinson took the Cincinnati Reds to the World Series. Sadly, Fred’s successful baseball career and life were cut short when he died of cancer in 1964 at the age of forty-five.5 His brother, Bill Hutchinson, was a surgeon who treated Fred’s cancer. After his younger brother’s death, Bill founded the “Fred Hutch,” a research center devoted to curing cancer.