Professor Houra Mahmoudzadeh and graduate student Rana Shirvai participated in the HOpeR Summer School 2025, held at the Université du Québec à Montréal from August 18–22, 2025. The program brought together researchers, graduate students, and healthcare professionals for advanced training in healthcare operational research, machine learning, and healthcare systems optimization.
Plenary Lecture: “Optimizing Cancer Care: From Data to Decisions”
Professor Mahmoudzadeh delivered a two‑part lecture titled "Optimizing Cancer Care: From Data to Decisions". The lecture examined how mathematical optimization can support personalized and resilient radiation therapy treatment planning. Topics included:
- The use of robust optimization to address uncertainty in clinical parameters
- Application of inverse optimization to learn from prior treatment decisions
- Approaches for making radiation therapy planning more data‑driven and adaptable across patient populations
These sessions provided participants with an in‑depth view of how advanced analytical methods can inform decision‑making in oncology and improve the design of treatment strategies.
Graduate Student Presentation
As part of the "This Is My Research" series, graduate student Rana Shirvai presented her ongoing work in inverse optimization for radiation therapy. These sessions give trainees structured opportunities to share current research and receive feedback from faculty and peers.
About HOpeR
The HOpeR Summer School offers expert lectures, methodological workshops, collaborative problem‑solving activities, and research presentation sessions. The 2025 edition included topics such as emergency department congestion, operating room management, patient prioritization frameworks, and performance measurement in healthcare systems.