Following the passing of Phil Bourne on 8 March 2026, ELIXIR remembers with gratitude a long-standing supporter, collaborator and advocate for open science.
Phil joined the ELIXIR Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) in November 2019 and served as Vice-Chair from February 2023 to February 2026. In both roles, he brought commitment, care and generosity to the work of the SAB. We greatly valued his thoughtful reviews of ELIXIR Nodes and Scientific Programme activities, and the insight and perspective he shared so consistently.
Phil’s connection with ELIXIR began well before his time on the SAB. As leader of the US National Institutes of Health Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative from 2013 to 2017, he was a long-standing collaborator who helped strengthen ties across the international life science data community. He was a consistent supporter of ELIXIR, and a fierce advocate of open science and open data more broadly.
Phil will be remembered with gratitude and admiration for the wisdom, encouragement and commitment he brought to ELIXIR over many years.