Timothy C. Y. Chan
• Canada Research Chair in Novel Optimization and Analytics in Health
• Professor, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (chan.mie.utoronto.ca)
• Director, Centre for Healthcare Engineering (che.utoronto.ca)
• Director, Centre for Analytics and AI Engineering (carte.utoronto.ca)
T-CAIREM member Timothy Chan is a professor with the University of Toronto’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. We caught up with him to learn more about how the fields of engineering and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can work better together in the future.
Why did you pursue a career in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering?
My area is Operations Research (OR). It was something I discovered in undergrad when I was studying math. OR is all about using math to solve real-world problems, and that really spoke to me.
What’s your proudest professional accomplishment?
I’m proud of my theoretical optimization research and some of the translational impact it has had in healthcare (working its way into cancer treatment software or leading to pilot studies in pre-hospital emergency response). But I think I’m most proud of seeing all the students that I’ve worked with go off and start their own successful careers. I’d like to think that I played a positive role in shaping their personal development and career trajectory. My former graduate trainees now hold faculty positions in Canada, the U.S., and Europe, and industry positions in a variety of sectors including healthcare, finance, AI, logistics, consulting, high tech, etc.
What excites you the most about combining your engineering expertise with Artificial Intelligence in a healthcare setting?
Healthcare is becoming increasingly data rich and there are lots of interesting problems that would not have been possible to solve without modern data. So the potential to improve data-driven decision making in healthcare has never been greater. Plus, getting to collaborate with scientists, physicians, and researchers from various areas of medicine is a constant source of invigoration.
What do you see as the biggest challenge to the field of right now?
I think we’re developing lots of innovative solutions from a research perspective. A big challenge continues to be translation. We have to make sure that all stakeholders are involved in the design and implementation of solutions. Are we solving the right problems? Are the solutions we’re creating actually solving those problems? I think these are things we constantly need to ask ourselves.
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
Playing Pokemon Go with my kids. Trying to get through all episodes of Modern Family on Netflix. I enjoyed tennis in a former life and hope to do so again in the near future.
Are there any projects you’re working on that you’re excited about?
One project I’m currently involved in, in partnership with the GEMINI team and Ontario Health, focuses on optimizing hospital occupancy through patient transfers between hospitals. This is particularly important during COVID, to ensure ICU capacity and ward capacity is suitably protected. But it will also be useful in the post-COVID world, once we get there, for things like catching up with the surgery backlog and seasonal influenza surges. Another project is looking to apply “Moneyball” concepts in medicine. This is something I’m particularly excited about since it combines healthcare with my other main research interest, sports analytics.
