Developing and applying AI and analytics science that can have significant public impact in healthcare and beyond.

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Dr. Soroush Saghafian

Curriculum Vitae
Google Scholar Profile
Wikipedia Page
SSRN Page

Dr. Soroush Saghafian (Wikipedia) is the founder and director of the Public Impact Analytics Science Lab (PIAS-Lab) at Harvard, which is devoted to advancing and applying the science of analytics to solving societal problems that can have a public impact. His current teaching focuses on Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics tools for solving societal problems.  He has been collaborating with a variety of hospitals to improve their operational efficiency, patient flow, medical decision-making, and, more broadly, healthcare delivery policies. He also serves as a core faculty member for the Harvard Center for Health Decision Science, a faculty affiliate for the Harvard Ph.D. Program in Health Policy,  the Harvard Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG), the Harvard Data Science Initiative, the Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the Harvard Center for Public Leadership, is an associate faculty member at the Harvard Ariadne Labs (Health Systems Innovation), and holds collaboration appointments at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).

Dr. Saghafian’s research has appeared in the news, including in pieces and interviews by PBS News, NBC News, US News, NPR, Fast Company, Euronews, The Hill, Boston Globe, National Academy of Medicine, Harvard Gazette, Harvard Crimson, The Independent, Industry Global News 24, Global Health News Wire, Eureka Alert (American Association for the Advancement of Science), Medscape, Medical Xpress, Managed Healthcare Executive, DOTmed, ABC Channel (TV), Devdiscourse.com, and INFORMS.

He has won various awards for his research, including the INFORMS MSOM 2023 Responsible Research Award (second place)  “[for] contributing knowledge that may have implications for making the world a better place by informing evidence-based, high-quality, and societally beneficial organizational practices across the business, government, and non-government organizations,” INFORMS MSOM Young Scholar Prize (2021) “[for] outstanding contributions to scholarship in operations management,” Inaugural INFORMS 2020 Mehrotra Research Excellence Award “for significant contributions to the practice of health applications through operations research (OR) and management science (MS) modeling and methodologies,”  INFORMS 2018 Public Sector Best Paper Award (second place),  2010 INFORMS Pierskalla Award “for the best research paper in healthcare,” and 2025 Marquis Who’s Who Honored Listee Recognition.

Dr. Saghafian serves on the editorial board of a few journals, including Management Science, Operations Research, Production and Operations Management, Service Science, and IISE Transactions. He also serves as a Senior Editor, Associate Editor, or referee for various journals, including Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Health Care Management Science, Mathematical Reviews (American Mathematical Society), Operations Research Letters, Naval Research Logistics, Service Science, and  Production and Operations Management.

Dr. Saghafian has also served as a chair/co-chair or a review panel member in various committees including INFORMS Pierskalla Award for the Best Paper in Healthcare, INFORMS Healthcare Applications Society Best Student Paper Award,  INFORMS MSOM Healthcare Special Interest Group, INFORMS MSOM Best Student Paper review panel, POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management Best Paper Award, and the review panel for International Conference on Health Care Systems Engineering.

Dr. Saghafian’s research has been supported through various grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF),  the Department of Defense (Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs), the Mayo Clinic, Amazon AWS, and Harvard University, among others.

Keynotes

  • Joint Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Annual Retreat, “Leveraging Data Science to Promote Health Equity” (2025): Title of Keynote: Public Policy and AI.
  • Florida International University College of Business, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) (2024): Title of Keynote: Making AI Impactful in Healthcare.
  • The Second IRAIS Conference on the Intersection of Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence (2024): Title of Keynote: Advancements in AI.
  • University of Toronto Rotman School of Business, Data Analytics in Healthcare (2024): Title of Keynote: Making AI Impactful in Healthcare.
  • Queen’s University Inaugural Conference on Healthcare Analytics (2023): Title of Keynote: Algorithm, Human, or an Algorithm-Human Centaur: How to Enhance Health Policy and Clinical Care?
  • Data Science Institute at South Methodist University and Cox School of Business (2023): Title of Keynote: Making AI Impactful in Healthcare.
  • Babson College Back to Babson Breakthrough Conference on “PC as MD: The Role of Tech in Healthcare” (2023): Title of Keynote: Making AI Impactful in Healthcare.
  • 6th International Conference on Industrial and Systems Engineering (2020): Title of Keynote: Optimizing Healthcare Systems.
  • Harvard Student Agencies Academies (2020): Title of Keynote: Machine Learning.

Honors & Awards

  • Marquis Who’s Who Honored Listee Recognition (2025)
  • Semi-Finalist, INFORMS Franz Edelman Award (2025) “for achievement in advanced analytics, operations research, and management science.”
  • Inaugural Best Published Paper Award by the Editorial Board of the Journal of Health Care Management Science (2024) for the paper “Who Should See the Patient? On Deviations from Preferred Patient- Provider Assignments in Hospitals.”
  • INFORMS MSOM Scoecity Responsible Research Award (2023) (second place) “[for] contributing knowledge that may have implications for making the world a better place by informing evidence-based, high-quality, and societally beneficial organizational practices across the business, government, and non-government organizations.”
  • INFORMS MSOM Society Young Scholar Prize (2021) “[for] outstanding contributions to scholarship in operations management.”
  • Inaugural INFORMS 2020 Mehrotra Research Excellence Award (first place) “for significant contributions to the practice of health applications through operations research (OR) and management science (MS) modeling and methodologies.”
  • Harvard Kennedy School Dinner on the Dean Excellence Award (Multiple Years)
  • POMS (Production and Operations Management Society) 2019 College of Healthcare Best Paper Award (first place)
  • INFORMS 2018 Public Sector Operations Research Best Paper Award (second place)
  • INFORMS Decision Analysis Society 2018 Best Student Paper Award (second place, awarded to Ph.D. advisee)
  • POMS (Production and Operations Management Society) 2017 College of Healthcare Best Paper Award (second place)
  • INFORMS MSOM (Manufacturing & Service Operations Management) Journal 2016 Best Paper Award (awarded to one paper among all published in the prior three years)
  • INFORMS MSOM Society 2016 Best Paper Award of Service Special Interest Group (SIG)
  • INFORMS 2015 Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) Paper Competition (honorable mention)
  • Outstanding Professor Recognition– USCIS 2014
  • Research Paper selected as one of five papers representing the best work published in MSOM Journal 2011-2015
  • POMS (Production and Operations Management Society) 2013 College of Supply Chain Best Student Paper Award  (honorable mention)
  • INFORMS MSOM (Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Society) 2012 Best Student Paper Award (first place)
  • 2012 Universsity of Mihcigan IOE Richard Wilson Prize for the Best Student Paper
  • INFORMS 2011 Doing Good with Good OR Award (finalist)
  • POMS 2011 College of Healthcare Best Paper Award (second place)
  • University of Michigan College of Engineering 2011 Outstanding Ph.D. Research Award (Richard and Eleanor Towner Award, $2500)
  • INFORMS 2010 Pierskalla Award for the Best Paper in Healthcare (from INFORMS Healthcare Applications Society, not a student paper award)
  • 2010 Katta Murty Prize for the Best Research Paper on Optimization
  • POMS 2009 College of Supply Chain Best Student Paper Award (finalist)
  • IOE 2007 Bonder Fellowship Award in Applied Operations Research
  • University of Michigan 2006 Named & Deans Fellowship Award
  • Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi

Funding Awards

  • Department of Defense (DoD, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs) (2024-2029) “Data-Driven Biomarker-informed Decision Analytics in Melanoma: Improving Efficacy and Reducing Toxicity of Immune Checkpoint Blockade,” Total Amount: $2,798,930, Role: Co-Principal Investigator (In Collaboration with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute).
  • The Hungarian Innovation Agency (2026-2028) “AI-HSO: AI-Driven Health System Optimization”. Total Amount: $1,125,000, Role: CO-Principal Investigator (in collaboration with Semmelweis University).
  • Joint Amazon AWS and Harvard Data Science Initiative (2025-2027) “Multi-Modal AI for Highly Personalized and Dynamic Causal Decision-Making in Cancer Treatments,” Total Amount: $556,443, Role: Principal Investigator (In Collaboration with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute).
  • Kuwait Science Foundation (The Middle East Initiative Program) (2022-2024) “Improving Population Health in the Middle East via Machine Learning and AI-Enabled Mobile Health Interventions,” Total Amount: $204,440, Role: Principal Investigator.
  • National Science Foundation (Grant CMMI-1562645, Aug. 2016 – Aug. 2019) “Data-Driven Management of Post-Transplant Medications,” Total Amount: $305,857, Role: Principal Investigator. (In Collaboration with the Mayo Clinic).
  • National Science Foundation (Grant CMMI-1562645, Aug. 2016 – Aug. 2019) “Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Supplement,” Total Amount: $15,600. Role: Principal Investigator.
  • Harvard Kennedy School Dean’s Research Fund (Jan. 2016 – Dec. 2019) “Towards Personalized Medicine: Utilizing Random Variation in Observational Data to Optimize Treatments,” Total Amount: $5,000, Role: Principal Investigator.
  • Mayo Clinic (Grant XSS0133, Aug. 2013 – Dec. 2015) “Bed-Block Phenomenon: A Significant Problem Affecting Patient Flow,” Total Amount: $112,000, Role: Principal Investigator.

Service

Editorial Service

  • Book review for Wiley Publication (Healthcare Operations Research), CRC Press (Operations Research Series), and Cambridge University Press (Artificial Intelligence)
  • Editorial Board of Management Science, Operations Research, Production and Operations Management, Service Science, IISE Transactions
  • Associate Editor: Management Science, Operations Research, Service Science, Naval Research Logistics (Special Issue on Health Care Operations Management), IISE Transactions 
  • Senior Editor: Production and Operations Management
  • Previous referee experience: Operations Research, Management Science, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Health Care Management Science, Mathematical Reviews (American Mathematical Society), Operations Research Letters, Production and Operations Management, Naval Research Logistics, IIE Transactions, Operations Research for Health Care, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineerg, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation

Professional Service

  • Invited Scientific Panels and Committees 
    • Invited Reviewer for Swiss National Science Foundation (2025)
    • Columbia University AI in Healthcare Panel, “Lab to Cloud: The Digital Transformation of Healthcare.” Organized by World Salon (2025)
    • Academy of Management Professional Development Workshop Panel on the Applications of AI/Big Data/Machine Learning in Healthcare (2023)
    • State University of New York Panel on “Bridging Bytes and Business – AI’s Impact on New York” (2023)
    • INFORMS Annual Meeting Program Leaderships Panel on “Collaborating with AI for Research” (2023)
    • INFORMS Annual Meeting Program Panel on “Healthcare Data, So Much Data, So Many Questions to Answer!” (2023)
    • National Science Foundation Invited Panel on Digital Healthcare (SBIR/STTR: Healthcare Workflow and Delivery) (2022)
    • INFORMS MSOM Young Scholar Prize Selection Committee (2022)
    • Invited Reviewer for Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (2020)
    • Industry Studies Association (2020), Professional Development Workshop for Earlier Career Scholars
    • Invited Reviewer for Swiss National Science Foundation (2019)
    • INFORMS Public Sector Operations Research Best Paper Award Committee (2018- present)
    • INFORMS Pierskalla Award Committee for the Best Paper in Healthcare
    • INFORMS Healthcare Applications Society Best Student Paper Award Review Panel (2015-present)
    • INFORMS MSOM Best Student Paper Award Judge (2013-Present)
    • POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management Best Paper Competition Judge (2022, 2021, 2018 & 2016)
    • INFORMS MSOMHealthcare Special Interest Group (SIG) Review Panel (2015-present)
    • INFORMS MSOM Service Management Special Interest Group (SIG) Review Panel (2015-present)
    • Health Systems Engineering Alliance Representative (2014- 2018)
    • International Conference on Health Care Systems Engineering Review Panel (2013)
  • Invited National Institute of Health (NIH) Advisory Panels and Working Groups
    • National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) Advisory Working Group on Artificial Intelligence
    • National Institute of Health (NIH) K01 Advisory Panel: Machine Learning for Emergency Department Psychiatry, Applicant: Christopher Kennedy, Center for Precision Psychiatry at MGH / HMS
    • National Institute of Health (NIH) K01 Advisory Panel: Machine Learning to Reduce Adverse Events and Patient Outcomes Among Hospitalized Children, Applicant Mariam Atkinson, Department of Health Policy & Management, Harvard Chan School
  • Conference Leadership and Service
    • INFORMS 2025 Annual Meeting Co-Chair of Community/Sponsored Sessions
    • MSOM Cluster Co-Chair of INFORMS 2021 Healthcare Conference
    • Co-Chair of INFORMS MSOM 2017 Healthcare Special Interest Group (SIG) Conference
    • Co-Chair of 2011 INFORMS Pierskalla Award Committee for the Best Paper in Healthcare (awarded by INFORMS  Healthcare Applications Society)  [Committee: Stefanos Zenios, Retsef Levi, Linda Green, and Sergei Savin]
  • School and University Service
    • Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Research Seminar Organizer (2022)
    • Harvard HKS Ph.D. Admission Committee (2015-present)
    • Harvard HKS Faculty Search Committee for Quantitative Methods (2017-2018)
    • Harvard Ph.D. Program in Health Policy (Faculty Affiliate) (2016-present)
    • Harvard Ph.D. Program in Health Policy (Standing Committee) (2017-present)
    • Harvard Standing Committee on Higher Degrees in Public Policy (2018-present)
    • Harvard Ariadne Labs (Associate Faculty Member) (2018-present)
    • Harvard Center for Health Decision Science (Faculty Affiliate) (2018-present)
    • Harvard Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (Faculty Affiliate) (2021-presnet)
    • Harvard Data Science Initiative (Faculty Affiliate) (2021-presnet)
    • Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Middle East Initiative (Faculty Affiliate) (2021-presnet)

Teaching

  • API 202M-Z Quantitative Analysis and Empirical Methods II [Spring 2025]
  • Computer Science Department: COMP SCI 2880 (Harvard Computer Science Department), AI for Social Impact [Fall 2024, Invited Guest Lecturer]
  • API 222 Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Fall 2024]
  • Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education: Leading in Artificial Intelligence, “Advancements in AI and ML” [Summer 2024]
  • API 222 Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Spring 2024]
  • Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education: Investment Decisions and Behavioral Finance, “Artificial Intelligence” [Fall 2023]
  • Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Executive Education: “Program for Chairs of Clinical Services” [Spring 2023]
  • API 222A Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Spring 2023]
  • Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education: Wexner Senior Leaders “Machine Learning and Big Data for Policymakers [Spring 2023]
  • Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education:  “Services Delivery: Quality, Equity, Efficiency” [Summer 2022]
  • Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Executive Education: “Program for Chairs of Clinical Services” [Spring 2022]
  • ​​​​​​API 222A Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Fall 2021]
  • API 222B Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Fall 2021]
  • Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education:  “Services Delivery: Quality, Equity, Efficiency” [Summer 2021]
  • API 222A Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Fall 2020]
  • API 222B Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Fall 2020]
  • API 115/ECON 2115 Econometric Methods II [Spring 2020- Machine Learning Module]
  • API 222A Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Fall 2019]
  • API 222B Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Fall 2019]
  • API 222B Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Spring 2019]
  • API 115/ECON 2115 Econometric Methods II [Spring 2019- Machine Learning Module]
  • API 222 Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics [Fall 2018]
  • API 201Z Quantitative Analysis and Empirical Methods [Fall 2017]
  • API 201Z Quantitative Analysis and Empirical Methods [Fall 2016]
  • MLD 603M Operations Management for Improving Public Services [Spring 2016]

More Information about PIAS-Lab Activities

Interview with Dr. Soroush Saghafian by Fast Company: Using AI for Public Impact: Insights from Dr. Soroush Saghafian [five takeaways from an AI pioneer about its potential impact in healthcare]

Lab Coverage by The Harvard Crimson: Harvard Kennedy School Public Impact Analytics Science Lab Receives $3 Million From DOD

Q&A with Dr. Soroush Saghafian: Big Data and Machine Learning can Usher in a New Era of Policymaking

Lab in the Boston Globe: Patients and staff criticize state’s plan to close beloved children’s hospital in Canton

Interview with Harvard Gazette on the 70-year study of mortality gaps between Black and white Americans

Soroush Saghafian interview with NPR/WBUR on the 70-year study of mortality gaps. [NPR/WBUR]

Interview with the Korean Newspaper, Chosun Ilbo: Medical disparities by region and income can be reduced through AI

A sample of Soroush Saghafian’s interviews and talks:

Amazon AWS Impact Computing Project at PIAS Lab:
Harvard Data Science Interview with Soroush Saghafian.
Interview with Richard Zeckhauser and Soroush Saghafian:
on YouTube
Interview with Soroush Saghafian on his book, Insight-Driven Problem-Solving: Analytic Science to Improve the World