Speaker: Dr. Oguzhan Alagoz, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Seminar Title: Stochastic Modeling to Personalize Cancer Screening
Date and Time: May 27 (Friday), 2022, 1:00-2:00pm ET (10-11am PT)
Abstract: This talk describes the use of partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) for personalizing cancer screening. POMDP models can be used to address several controversial open research questions in cancer screening, such as when to start and stop screening and how often to screen. We demonstrate the development and application of a POMDP-based personalized cancer screening policy using breast cancer as an example. In addition, we briefly describe how nonadherence to the screening recommendations, limited screening resources, and existence of chronic conditions could be addressed using the POMDP modeling framework. Finally, we describe successful POMDP applications in other cancers including personalizing colorectal and lung cancer screening.
Bio: Oguzhan Alagoz is Proctor & Gamble Bascom Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a professor at the Department of Population Health Sciences and serves as the director of NIH-funded Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR)-Simulation Center. His research interests include stochastic optimization, medical decision making, completely and partially observable Markov decision processes, simulation, risk-prediction modeling and health technology assessment. He served as a member of ISPOR-SMDM Modeling Good Research Practices Task Force which developed recommendations for good modeling practices in state-transition modeling for the evaluation of health care decisions in 2012. He is also co-leading the University of Wisconsin Breast Cancer Simulation Model, a member of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network, that was used to inform national breast cancer screening guidelines in the US in 2016. He is currently serving as the editor-in-chief of IISE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering and associate editor for Operations Research. He previous previously served on the editorial board of Medical Decision Making and IISE Transactions. He is an elected fellow of IISE. Furthermore, he has received various awards including a CAREER award from National Science Foundation (NSF), outstanding young industrial engineer in education award from IISE, Dantzig Dissertation Honorable Mention Award from INFORMS, 2nd place award from INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group best paper competition, best paper award from INFORMS Service Science Section, best podium presentation award from ISPOR, and best poster award from UW Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has been the principal investigator and co-investigator on grants approximately $7 million funded by NSF and NIH.