Steve Hsu

In 2018 his research group used the method on the same dataset to build genomic predictors for complex diseases such as Hypothyroidism, (Resistive) Hypertension, Type 1 and 2 Diabetes, Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Testicular Cancer, Gallstones, Glaucoma, Gout, Atrial Fibrillation, High Cholesterol, Asthma, Basal Cell Carcinoma, Malignant Melanoma, and Heart Attack. Outliers in risk score (e.g., 99th percentile) were shown, in out-of-sample validation tests, to have up to ten times the risk of ordinary individuals for the specific conditions. The predictors use as input information dozens to thousands of common SNPs measured for each individual.

In 2017 Hsu and collaborators applied Lasso (invented in 1997 by Robert Tibshirani) to construct the first accurate genomic predictors of complex human traits (height, bone density, cognitive ability), using data from the UK Biobank. Their height predictor estimates adult height from genotype alone, with accuracy of roughly one inch.

In July 2012, he was named Michigan State University’s Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies. Under Hsu’s leadership, MSU annual research expenditures, as reported in the annual National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development report, grew from $500 million to over $700 million per year.

Hsu was founder and CEO of SafeWeb, which was acquired by Symantec on October 15, 2003 for $26 million. SafeWeb pioneered SSL VPN technology which later become standard in commercial-grade firewalls. He is also a founder of Genomic Prediction, a company that develops technology for advanced genetic testing.

He became an assistant professor at Yale University in 1995 before moving to the University of Oregon in 1998 where he became a full professor of theoretical physics and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science. Hsu’s research has focused on a number of areas in particle physics and cosmology, including phase transitions in the early universe, the ground state of quark matter at high density, black holes and quantum information, minimum length from quantum gravity, dark energy, and quantum foundations.

Hsu received a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1986, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1991. After his doctorate, he was a Harvard Junior Fellow and Superconducting Super Collider Fellow from 1991 to 1994.

Stephen D. H. Hsu (born 1966) is an American physicist and university administrator.