CURATORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Research Professor
Abu Saleh Mohammad Mosa, PhD is the Director of Research Informatics at the University of Missouri (MU) School of Medicine and Assistant Research Professor of Health Informatics. Dr. Mosa has an affiliate faculty appointment in the MU Informatics Institute. Dr. Mosa obtained his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, followed by Master's degree in Computer Science from the University College Dublin and Doctoral degree in Health Informatics from the University of Missouri. Dr. Mosa's research area includes informatics infrastructure development for clinical research, mining massive and unstructured data, mining clinical data, mobile health (mHealth), patient reported outcome, Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K), and Big Data for Patients (BD4P). He has directed more than $100,000 research projects as the PI and participated in more than $7,000,000 collaborative projects sponsored by NIH and PCORI. He has published in peer-reviewed journals in health/medical informatics and data mining. Since 2013, he has served as the reviewer for five international journals including International Journal of Data Mining and Bioinformatics (IJDMB), Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PE&RS), International Journal of Communication Systems (IJCS), Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), and International Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences (IJMMS). He also served as the review for four conference since 2014 including Medicine 2.0, AMIA Annual Symposium, AMIA Joint Summits on Translational Science, and International Workshop on Biomedical and Health Informatics.
Dr. Lin is an expert on translational neuroimaging of brain vascular and metabolic function in aging, Alzheimer's disease, stroke and traumatic brain injury. She developed and applied magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy and positron emission tomography to test nutritional and pharmacologic approaches for protecting the brain from aging, traumatic brain injury, and Alzheimer's disease. She also has applied artificial intelligence to identify markers that are highly predictable for Alzheimer's disease development and progression and applied gut microbiome analyses to study gut-brain interaction underlying Alzheimer's disease.
Job Titles:
- Member & Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
- Professor
Blake Meyers is a Member & Principal Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, and he is a Professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri - Columbia. He formerly held the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg professorship in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware, where his research group was from 2002 to 2015. His research emphasizes novel approaches and applications of bioinformatics and next-generation sequencing to plant genomics, with an emphasis on understanding the biological functions and genomic impact of small RNAs, DNA methylation, and gene expression. These studies take place in maize, rice, Arabidopsis, soybean, Medicago, and other species. The Meyers lab has pioneered and co-developed a number of sequencing based applications, widely applied to study plant genomes and their RNA products, particularly small RNAs, and the lab continues to develop and apply novel informatics and experimental approaches for the analysis of RNAs and their functions, primarily in plants.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Shumaker Professor & Director
Chi-Ren Shyu (he/him/his) is a Paul K. and Dianne Shumaker Professor in electrical engineering and computer science and serves as the director of the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics, where 60 interdisciplinary core faculty from 22 departments/schools support more than 160 graduate students in the MS degree program in Data Science & Analytics and PhD degree program in Informatics with emphasis areas in bioinformatics, health informatics and geospatial informatics. Shyu has organized and chaired technical program committees for several IEEE conferences, such as IEEE HealthCom 2011 (Columbia, Missouri), IEEE BigMM 2016 (Taipei, Taiwan), IEEE BIBM 2017 (Kansas City, Missouri), and IEEE BIBE 2018 (Taichung, Taiwan). He will be organizing IEEE BIBE 2023 in North America. He is representing MU and serving on the Southeast Conference (SEC) Artificial Intelligence Curriculum Consortium. Since joining MU in 2000, Shyu has received several awards including the National Science Foundation CAREER award, Engineering Faculty Research Award, Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, the University of Missouri Faculty Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurial Award, UM System President's Leadership Award and seven computer science teaching awards. His current research focuses on digital health, explainable AI, quantum computing and spatial Big Data analytics. He is a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association.
Dr. Fitch uses both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies addressing topics that include management of information systems in human service organizations, systems theory, and decision-making. He employs systemic intervention methodologies including critical system heuristics and soft systems. His research seeks to understand how the components of data, information, and knowledge are involved in the design of information storage systems so as to best create systems that better address social determinants of health.
Job Titles:
- Data Journalism Course Coordinator
- Reporter, Data Journalist
DAVID HERZOG is a veteran investigative reporter, data journalist and educator with more than 30 years of experience. He enjoys discovering how journalists can use data analysis tools to uncover the news better. Herzog teaches data journalism to student and professional journalists. He speaks frequently about investigative reporting, data journalism and access to information.
As the academic adviser to the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, he helps guide data services for Investigative Reporters and Editors. IRE is a global organization with more than 5,000 members based at the Journalism School. He helps direct the Dow Jones News Fund's data journalism residency program for IRE.
He is part of the interdisciplinary team that launched the online M.S. in Data Science and Analytics program at the University of Missouri. He developed and teaches a data journalism class geared toward professionals for the program.
He's reported for The Providence Journal, The Baltimore Sun, and The Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. He's won or shared in national, regional and state awards for investigations into political corruption, child lead poisoning and lax workplace safety.
Dr. Anderson's Mizzou INformation and Data FUsion Laboratory (MINDFUL), located in C1201 Lafferre Hall, was formed in January of 2018 and it will be up and running in summer of 2018. Previously, Anderson co-founded and co-directed the Sensor Analysis and Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) at Mississippi State University. SAIL is a multidisciplinary research lab with diverse applications ranging from smart vehicles (for tier one commercial partners), to security and defense (hand-held, ground vehicle, and aerial platforms), forensic anthropology (clandestine graves and human surface remains), and environment understanding (agriculture and land classification in support of autonomous ground vehicles and robotics). MINDFUL will take a similar multidisciplinary stance and focus on geospatial applications (emphasis on data/information fusion and machine learning). MINDFUL is currently in the process of purchasing a suite of sensors (single, multi and hyper spectral imaging in the visible, near infrared, long wave infrared and radar EM spectrum to start) and platforms (e.g., quad and octocopter unmanned aerial vehicles).
Dr. Jianlin Cheng's research is focused on bioinformatics, systems biology, machine learning and data mining. To date, his group has designed and developed a variety of cutting-edge computational methods for protein structure and function prediction, proteomics, genomics, biological network simulation, and general machine learning. His protein structure prediction methods were ranked among the best in the last three consecutive biannual Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP7, CASP8, and CASP9), from 2006 to 2010. The bioinformatics tools and web services produced by Dr. Cheng's research are publicly available and used by life scientists from around the world.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Associate Professor
- Director of Graduate Studies - PhD Program
Dr. Praveen Rao is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at the University of Missouri (MU). His research interests are in the areas of big data management, data science, health informatics, and cybersecurity. He directs the Scalable Data Science (SDS) Lab at MU. His research, teaching, and outreach activities have been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), the University of Missouri System (Tier 1 grant, Tier 3 grant), University of Missouri Research Board, and companies. At MU, he is a core faculty of the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics and the CERI Center. He is a core scientist of the Washington University Center for Diabetes Translation Research funded by NIH. He is a Senior Member of the ACM (2020) and IEEE (2015).
Dr. Richard Hammer is highly trained hematopathologist/surgical pathologist with extensive experience and a focus on providing state-of-the-art diagnosis and evaluation using the latest evidence-based medicine. His lab provides high-level service in hematopathology, flow cytometry, coagulation, and molecular diagnostics in hematology. He also is involved in bioinformatics and developing tools to apply digital solutions to clinical practice and clinical decision support.
Job Titles:
- Associate Teaching Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, DSA Masters Online
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor - DSA Program
Eileen Avery's research interests are centered on health disparities, social demography, crime and social control as public health concerns, and survey methodology. The importance of space and place is an overlapping focus across these interests. Past work examined the ways that income inequality, disorder, race-ethnic composition, social resources and so forth are associated with health and mortality in neighborhood context. In current informatics work Dr. Shyu, Hammer, and I, along with graduate students, examine ways that a big data geospatial approach can be applied to both traditional medical and survey data. Additional work uses data from two statewide population based surveys that my colleagues and I developed and fielded to examine the ways that health outcomes and aspects of public opinion relate to crime and social control (e.g. policing) across urban and rural spaces. Another project in the early stage of development will use restricted census data to examine the nuanced ways that income inequality matters for health at different levels of geography.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Director of the Social Cognition of Social Change ( SCSC ) Laboratory
- Director of the SuperPower Project
Hennes is the director of the Social Cognition of Social Change (SCSC) Laboratory located in the Department of Psychological Sciences and Harry S Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri. Hennes' SCSC lab focuses on cognitive and motivated biases in information processing and person perception, particularly in the context of contemporary social issues such as environmental sustainability, and racial and gender inequality. Much of this research examines how concern for the maintenance of social stability and preferences for restorative vs. progressive change influence cognitive processes. Translational research develops and examines the efficacy (and potential unintended consequences) of interventions that highlight status-quo injustices.
Hennes is also the director of the SuperPower Project, an NIH R01-funded interdisciplinary team committed to the development of new methods for supporting scientific best practice, with a focus on sample size determination.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Professor, Associate Dean of Graduate Research Education
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Associate Professor
- Director of MS
Grant Scott is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Institute for Data Science and Informatics at the University of Missouri. He has participated in projects for the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DoD), NGA, DIA, Army, Air Force, Army ERDC, NRL, NRO, and DARPA. He is currently mentoring or leading research projects in several areas including data science, machine learning, computer vision, multi-modal analytics, high-performance computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and geospatial analytics. His research interests also include knowledge-driven multidimensional indexing, multimodal analytics, computer vision, pattern recognition, computational intelligence, databases (geospatial, media-content, and traditional), parallel/distributed systems and information theory in support of media database systems.
Guilherme DeSouza is an associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, an adjunct associate professor in the Computer Science Department and a joint courtesy associate professor with the Sinclair School of Nursing, all at the University of Missouri.
Winner of Purdue's Honeywell Teaching Award, the Purdue's Maria Canto Neuberger Research Award and the MU Excellence in Teaching Award, DeSouza come to Missouri after working as a principal research scientist at Purdue University and as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia. He also worked for over 10 years at the Brazilian Power Systems Research center on distribution and real-time systems and on diagnostic of power systems using Machine Learning, Pattern Recognition, and Computational Intelligence. DeSouza has published over 70 refereed articles in robotic vision navigation, pattern recognition and computational intelligence.
Job Titles:
- Advisor: Hong He
- Professor
Job Titles:
- Assistant Teaching Professor
Job Titles:
- Research Associate Professor
Dr. Bryan's research focuses on comparative examination of cancers in companion animals to better understand cancers in all species. Bryan is an associate professor of veterinary oncology and director of the Comparative Oncology and Epigenetics Laboratory. His particular areas of interest are targeted imaging and therapy and epigenetics of cancer. Targeted imaging and therapy agents take advantage of particular properties of cancer to deliver an imaging or therapy payload to tumors. Bryan is leading research projects studying an immunotherapy agent targeted to the low-oxygen environment of cancer, an herbal derivative that targets iron in tumors, and a nanoparticle chemotherapy targeted to the lymphatic drainage of cancer. The agents under evaluation are destined for use in both dogs and humans to treat lymphomas as well as solid tumors like sarcomas, head and neck cancer, and breast cancer. Each of these trials is designed to develop an approach that is less toxic and more effective than our current cancer treatments. Epigenetics is the study of mechanisms that change expression of genes critical to cell growth without changing the DNA sequence by mutation. DNA methylation can cause the complete silencing of genes that act as brakes on cell division without any mutation to the gene itself. Unlike mutations, which are permanent changes to the DNA, methylation can be reversed, and the gene can function again, putting the brakes back on cell growth. Dr. Bryan and his team are investigating epigenetic causes and contributions to animal cancers to assist in identifying the most biologically relevant changes in human cancers by comparison.
Dr. Moore received her B.S. degree in Computer Science and M.S. degree in Management from North Carolina State University, both focusing on a minor in Management Information Systems. After teaching for two years in the Department of Computer Information Systems at Shaw University, Dr. Moore turned her attention to earning her Ph.D. in Instructional Technology from the University of Georgia with a cognate area of Management Information Systems. Her current research agenda is the application of appropriate design principles for computer-based environments that support learning and/or effectively improve a desired performance. She has served as President of the Training and Performance Division and the Minorities in Media Affiliate for the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (AECT).
Dr. Mitchem received his MD from The Ohio State University and subsequently did general surgery residency at Washington University in St. Louis and a fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery at The Lahey Clinic in Boston, MA. During his time at Washington University, Dr. Mitchem also spent three years receiving additional training in tumor immunology as a part of an NIH T32 training program in tumor immunology. He joined the faculty at the University of Missouri and the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veteran's Hospital in 2016 after completing his surgical training. Prior to arriving at MU, Dr. Mitchem was awarded a KL2 training grant via the Washington University-University of Missouri Clinical and Translational Science Award, which he parlayed into a larger career development award from the Department of Veteran's Affairs. Dr. Mitchem's specific research interests are focused on understanding mechanisms of immune resistance in colon and rectal cancer in order to enhance anti-tumor immunity. The goal is to develop novel therapies and therapeutic combinations using patient's own immune system to fight their cancer.
Job Titles:
- Senior Research Project Analyst at the University of Missouri Center
Justin Krohn is a Senior Research Project Analyst at the University of Missouri Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES) and a PhD student in Geoinformatics. After finishing his undergraduate degree in Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University, Justin spent 27 months as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, serving as an environmental volunteer. He then went on and earned his Master's degree in Geography from Western Illinois University as well as a post-Baccalaureate certificate in Community and Economic Development as a Coverdell Fellow. Justin has work experience in Natural Resource Management, Conservation, Organic Farming, Beekeeping, Community and Economic Development, GIS, and Data Analysis and Visualization. He has worked with a variety of organizations including major Universities, private businesses, non-profits, and community-based organizations in the U.S., Malawi, and Kenya.
Md Kamruz Zaman Rana, a Biomedical Informatics Software Engineer at the University of Missouri, is concurrently advancing his studies with a doctoral degree in Health Informatics at the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics. Prior to his current role, Rana accrued significant experience as a graduate research assistant over a period of 3.5 years. Additionally, he holds a Master of Science in Medical Informatics and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering.
, a Biomedical Informatics Software Engineer at the University of Missouri, is concurrently advancing his studies with a doctoral degree in Health Informatics at the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics. Prior to his current role, Rana accrued significant experience as a graduate research assistant over a period of 3.5 years. Additionally, he holds a Master of Science in Medical Informatics and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering.
Rana boasts an impressive professional background, with 3 years in web and mobile application development, later progressing to become the lead Android developer at Rankmylist Bangladesh Limited, a subsidiary of Rankmylist Incorporate. Throughout his tenure, he demonstrated a strong ability to lead an enthusiastic team of young professionals, earning him four promotions in recognition of his unwavering dedication, performance excellence, and leadership acumen. His prowess also caught the attention of Upwork, a well-known outsourcing platform, earning him the title of a "Rising Star". Rana has developed or revamped seven distinct applications for a global client base spanning from the US, UK, Brazil, to Thailand.
Rana's research primarily concentrates on explainable AI and feature engineering within the Biomedical Informatics domain. His distinctive fusion of skill sets, rich experience, and leadership capabilities fuels his commitment to harness technology for transformative impacts in the healthcare sector.
Prior to receiving a MS in Data Science & Analytics at Mizzou in 2020, Katrina was a motion graphics artist and art director in marketing and communications. She is currently a PhD candidate and a Data Analyst with ECHO Autism. Her research interests include: human-computer interaction, user-centered design, and visualizing personal sensor data. She is a member of the Precision Smart Technologies for Rapid Translation (Precision START) lab and her dissertation research focus is on the user-centered design of an integrated sensor interface to support remote care coordination for the Age-friendly Sustainable Smart and Equitable Technologies for Aging in Place (ASSETs for AIP) team.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Associate Research Professor, Associate Director of Service - IDSI
Mai-Lan Ho, MD, is an accomplished neuroradiology physician-scientist and leader specializing in the full scope of advanced imaging. Dr. Ho has clinical expertise in advanced neuroimaging techniques and genotype-phenotype correlation in complex diseases. Her research focus involves radiologic technology development, quantitative image analysis and imaging genomics. Dr. Ho also leads multiple national and international initiatives for data science and precision health and serves on national/international society committees and editorial boards dedicated to advanced imaging and AI. Dr. Ho's research program involves the three key focus areas of translational advanced imaging, imaging genomics and artificial intelligence, improving imaging technology, implementation and integration by using clinical and basic sciences. Her independent and collaborative publications/grants apply expertise in medical physics, computer vision and data science for added value in clinical practice. As PI/co-I on several federal, foundation, and industry awards, Dr. Ho has built integrated teams of imaging physicists, referring physicians, radiologists and data scientists to accelerate bench-to-bedside translation. In her leadership roles, Dr. Ho has created funded infrastructure for imaging investigators supporting task-based and resting-state functional MRI, advanced diffusion, perfusion, elastography, fingerprinting, spectroscopy, vessel wall imaging, ultrashort-echo time, 3D visualization and printing, and machine and deep learning. Actively promoting team science, overseeing innovative curricula and providing academic mentorship to faculty and trainees in various disciplines are core to her scientific principles.
Mikhail came to Bioinformatics with an Electrical Engineering and computer programming background. Recognizing the trends towards massive data processing needs in health care, he joined MUIDSI in hopes to make his own contribution to the advancement of computational diagnostic tools and the Precision Medicine initiative.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Assistant Professor
My name is Murugesan, and my research focuses on biomedical and ocular informatics. My primary research interests revolve around the early prediction of disease onset and developing a drug recommendation system using DL and LSTM models. To facilitate translational research, I am interested in developing novel methods and pipelines to integrate and extract meaningful data-driven knowledge from various omics data, such as clinical data, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics.
Job Titles:
- Project Support Coordinator
My current research focus is in the field of Consumer Health Informatics and Information & Communication Technologies (ICT). My work revolves around leveraging social media analytics, social network analysis, and innovative informatics approaches to gain insights into chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes, mental health, and cancer), COVID-19, population health, and other pertinent health issues. In addition, I am enthusiastic about exploring the potential of machine learning and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to further enhance our understanding and knowledge in these critical areas.
Pallavi Gupta is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Missouri, specializing in Health Informatics, specifically integrating consumer-grade and non-medical bio-health sensors into advance machine learning analytics. Her research experience includes design, development, optimization, and deployment of machine learning solutions for health monitoring purposes and early illness indications in older adults residing in Americare aging-in-place facilities like TigerPlace. Her current research is conducted in a cross-functional team (from Nursing, Social Work, Engineering, and Health Sciences) to analyze un-obtrusive sensors, gather the clinical knowledge, and translates that knowledge into predictive models, using state-of-the-art technologies like SciPy, PyTorch, Kubernetes, and more.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Assistant Research Professor
Rene Cortese, PhD, studies epigenetics of complex diseases to detect and understand how complex diseases develop, progress, are inherited, and can be treated. His main research interests are: i) Multiomics studies on phenotype modulation in Children's and Women's Health, ii) Epigenetics mechanisms involved in the Developmental Origin of Diseases, iii) Epigenomics of Sleep Disorders, and iv) Epigenomics profiling in circulating DNA in bodily fluids. Dr. Cortese received his MSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires, Argentina and earned his PhD at the University of Bonn, in Bonn, Germany. He did his Post-doctoral Fellowship in Epigenetics at the Krembil Family Epigenetics Laboratory CAMH, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has over 30 publications and 5 patents and has worked in the field of genetics / epigenetics for over 20 years holding positions in academy and industry.
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor - Informatics Ph.D. Program
Job Titles:
- Professor, Information Science & Learning Technologies
Job Titles:
- Assistant Teaching Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, MS DSA on - Campus
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Assistant Professor