Topic：Optimization for Big Data Analytics and Its Applications in Healthcare Improvement

Speaker：Neng Fan，PhD，University of Arizona

Date：June 21, at 10：00 AM

Nenue：Room 308, IRC Building

Abstract：

Vast amounts of healthcare data are generated and collected daily. To improve the patient outcomes and health care service efficiency, optimization can play a big role for decision-making from diseases prevention, diagnosis and treatment, to hospital management. In this talk, two data analytics approaches will be introduced: data-driven optimization models and algorithms for learning from uncertain or noisy data (e.g., images in electronic health records), and automated knowledge discovery based on phase-type distributions from complex data with covariates. As case studies, novel classification methods have been applied to evaluate the pancreatic carcinoma through the use of quantitative histopathological signatures of nuclear images, and phase-type distribution is utilized to study readmission rates and discharge planning by analyzing the length-of-stay of patients. Other potential applications of proposed methodologies will be also discussed.

Biography of the Speaker：

Dr. Neng Fan is an assistant professor at Systems and Industrial Engineering Department, University of Arizona (UA). He obtained his bachelor degree in mathematics from Wuhan University in 2004, and master degree in applied mathematics from Nankai University in 2007. He obtained his master and PhD degrees from Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at University of Florida in 2009 and 2011, respectively. Before joining UA, he worked in Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories from 2010 to 2012. His research interests include optimization methodology, applied operations research, data mining and machine learning. He has published more than 40 papers in the journals such as Production and Operations Management, Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, IEEE Transaction on Power Systems, Journal of Global Optimization, Annals of Operations Research, Computational Management Science, etc.

Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Big Data-Based Precision Medicine