Dilek Colak

Dr. Dilek Colak is a Principal Scientist and Head of the Colak Lab at the Research and Innovation, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH&RC) in Riyadh. Her research centers on computational biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and network medicine, with a focus on integrating large-scale multi-omics and clinical data to advance biomarker discovery and precision medicine. A major emphasis of her work is precision oncology in Saudi and Arab populations, addressing population-specific disease biology, earlier disease onset, and aggressive cancer phenotypes.

Her research portfolio also encompasses cardiovascular and neurological disorders and infection-associated organ injury, applying systems-level approaches to complex diseases. Through leadership of multidisciplinary and collaborative research initiatives, Dr. Colak bridges computational discovery with translational research relevant to clinical care. She has authored 150+ peer-reviewed publications and contributes to advancing data-driven biomedical research within a leading tertiary care and research institution.

Computational oncology & biomarker discovery.

Multi-omics data integration (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics).

Network medicine / systems biology and subnetwork biomarkers.

AI & machine learning for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy response prediction.

Cancer genomics and population-specific precision medicine (Saudi/Arab cohorts).

Transcriptomic and proteomic data analysis pipelines.

Statistical genomics and bioinformatics tool development.

Translational research support for clinical and biomedical investigators.

Dr. Colak earned her PhD in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University (2000, summa cum laude) after completing her BSc (1991) and MSc (1993) in Electrical & Electronics Engineering at Bilkent University, Turkey. She held research positions at the University of Michigan and Ohio State University, and worked at Bell Laboratories (Lucent Technologies) as a professional scientist. She joined KFSH&RC in 2005, progressing from Scientist to Senior Scientist and group/section head roles, and since 2024 serves as Principal Scientist and Head of the Colak Lab. Her career bridges engineering, statistics, and biomedical data science, with extensive experience in high-throughput genomics and systems-level analysis of complex diseases.