Cardioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that applies bioinformatics and computational biology approaches to cardio-(vascular/renal/metabolic) disease data storage, computing and analysis. Similar to other areas of research that integrate informatics techniques with clinical domain expertise, the application of computational methods to heart research and its associated renal and metabolic systems, poses a unique set of challenges and opportunities for biomedical innovation. With the rise of large-scale databases and other advanced computing infrastructure to support healthcare and biotechnology initiatives that accelerate drug target discovery and development in these therapeutic areas, we anticipate that cardioinformatics advancements will continue to inform clinical practice and transform public health. Formally defined as the nexus of bioinformatics and precision cardiology, cardioinformatics focuses on heart and vascular system research and provides a constellation of data that can inform researchers on both a broad and granular level on intersecting subspecialties related to the cardiovascular system, including endocrinology, nephrology and metabolism.
Bohdan Khomtchouk, PhD, a primary investigator at the Krannert Cardiovascular Research Center at Indiana University School of Medicine, is a human geneticist and pioneer in the interdisciplinary field of cardioinformatics. Dr. Khomtchouk brings a critical skill set to cardiovascular research, as his team works toward integrating computational biology and AI/machine learning-based approaches to decipher cardiovascular genomics and facilitate novel drug target discovery and repurposing strategies to treat heart disease, including its associated renal and metabolic co-morbidities, with a focus on addressing genomic health disparities and building biobanks for historically underrepresented populations.
As an assistant professor of Bioinformatics and Data Science at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Indianapolis, Dr. Khomtchouk’s research focuses on integrating biological database technologies and high-performance computing resources to offer data-driven insights into complex biomedical datasets that could someday inform new approaches to clinical care and the development of novel computationally-derived therapeutics.
According to the National Institute on Aging, the population for people over 65-years-old, is expected to double by 2050, and triple for individuals over 80 years of age, which will create a future demand for health care innovation to address cardiovascular disease. 
In addition to teaching the Luddy School of Informatics’ B556 course, Biological Database Management, Dr. Khomtchouk also serves as the principal investigator of the 
According to Khomtchouk, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPIs) are often underrepresented or could have been aggregated with population data from Asia in most large cardiovascular biology databases. 