Bio

Dr. Soroush Saghafian (Wikipedia) is interested in using and developing operations research, management science, and operations management techniques that can have significant public benefits. He 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, New-Meical.net, 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.

A Sample of Soroush Saghafian's Interviews and Talks

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• Interview with Fast Company on Using AI for Public Impact: Insights from Dr. Soroush Saghafian 
  Five takeaways from an AI pioneer about its potential impact in healthcare:
  
  
   
• Interveiew with Harvard Crimson on $3M Grant:
  
  
   
• Interview with PolicyCast on the role of data analysis and intelligent policy design in health care:

• TV interview on societal implications of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models: 
  
  
  
  
   
• Interview with INFORMS on Healthcare Transparency:
  
  
  
   
• TV interview on the impact of hospital closures:

• 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:  Soroush Saghafian.mp3 [NPR/WBUR]
   
• Interview with the Korean Newspaper, Chosun Ilbo: Medical disparities by region and income can be reduced through AI
  
  
  
   
   
• Q&A: Big Data and Machine Learning can Usher in a New Era of Policymaking:
  
  
   

• Webinar for the Harvard's Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG) with comments from Prof. Richard Zeckhauser:

• Webinar for the AI Institute on Machine Learning and Public Policy: 
   

• Webinar for the Frontiers of Big Data, AI and Analytics:
   

• Interview with Subject to:

• Keynote (Virtual) on Optimizing Healthcare Systems:
   

• Prof. Saghafian on Ambiguous Dynamic Treatment Regimes at Harvard's IQSS (Institute for Quantitative Social Science):