Regina Barzilay

Regina Barzilay is a School of Engineering Distinguished Professor for AI and Health in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT. Since 2018, she has been the AI faculty lead for the Jameel Clinic and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

Her research interests are in machine learning models for clinical use and molecular modeling with applications to drug discovery. Prior to her current research, she worked on natural language processing, with a specific focus on computational linguistics to translate ancient languages.

She is a recipient of various awards including the 2017 MacArthur fellowship “Genius Grant”, an ACL fellowship, and an AAAI fellowship. In 2020, she was awarded the Squirrel AI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity. More recently, she has been recognized on the 2025 TIME100 AI List and awarded with the IEEE Frances E. Allen Medal for her development of innovative machine learning algorithms that have significantly advanced human language technology and transformed medical diagnostics and drug discovery, such as Mirai, Sybil, and the Boltz model series. Barzilay is also a member of three national academies including: the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy for Arts & Sciences.

She received her PhD in Computer Science from Columbia University, and spent a year as a postdoc at Cornell University. Barzilay received her undergraduate degree from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.

Research Group Website