Houra Mahmoudzadeh

Dr. Houra Mahmoudzadeh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at the University of Waterloo, the Managing Director of the Health AI and Analytics Lab, and an affiliated faculty member in the Waterloo Data and Artificial Intelligence Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto and M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Industrial Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology. Before joining academia, Dr. Mahmoudzadeh worked as the Director of the Industrial Engineering Department at a pharmaceutical manufacturing company.

Dr. Mahmoudzadeh's research mainly focuses on the methodology and applications of large-scale robust optimization and data-driven inverse optimization, with a special interest in healthcare. She has active research collaborations with several health organizations, including the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Waterloo Wellington Regional Cancer Program, Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN), and Cambridge Memorial Hospital. Her work has been published in top journals in the fields of Operations Research and Medical Physics and has been funded through multiple NSERC grants and other internal/external funding. Dr. Mahmoudzadeh is an INFORMS Senior Member and has been serving the OR/MS community in multiple roles in INFORMS, the CORS Council, and the CORS Healthcare Operational Research SIG. She is currently the Vice-President of the Canadian Operational Research Society.

• Decision making under uncertainty

• Data analytics

• Robust optimization

• Inverse optimization

• Large-scale optimization

• Medical decision making

• Cancer treatment

• Hospital operations

• Healthcare applications of operations research

Data-driven and Robust Optimization: Dealing with uncertain and noisy data in mathematical models. Optimization and decision-making under uncertainty.

Large-Scale Optimization: Developing problem-specific decomposition-based algorithms to solve computationally intensive mathematical programming models. Designing heuristics for solving extremely large-scale applications.

Inverse Optimization: Inferring implicit decision-making criteria based on observed decisions. Data classification and parameter inference in structured models. Finding the optimization parameters for a given optimal solution. Robust inverse optimization with uncertain observations.

• 2015, Doctorate, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto

• 2006, Master of Science, Industrial Engineering, Sharif University of Technology

• 2003, Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering, Sharif University of Technology

• 2024 Teaching Excellence Award, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo

• 2025-2026 Vice-President of the Canadian Operations Research Society (CORS)

• MSCI 251 - Probability and Statistics 1
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
• MSCI 331 - Introduction to Optimization
  • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
• MSCI 634 - Deterministic Models in Operations Research
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
• MSE 634 - Deterministic Models in Operations Research
  • Taught in 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Ripsman D.A., Rahimi F., Abouee-Mehrizi H., and Mahmoudzadeh H., Light Pareto robust optimization for IMRT treatment planning, Medical Physics, Volume 50, 2637-2648, Canada, 2023.

• Habib R.R., Yeung J., Darko J., Osei E., and Mahmoudzadeh H., Optimization of sliding windows IMRT treatment planning, IISE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering, Volume 12, 180-192, Canada, 2022.

• Ripsman D.A., Purdie T.G., Chan T.C.Y., and Mahmoudzadeh H., Robust Direct Aperture Optimization for Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Volume 34, 2017-2038, Canada, 2022.

• Shiri M., Ahmadizar F., and Mahmoudzadeh H., A three-phase methodology for home healthcare routing and scheduling under uncertainty, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Volume 127, Iran, 2021.

• Ghobadi K., and Mahmoudzadeh H., Inferring linear feasible regions using inverse optimization, European Journal of Operational Research, Volume 127, 829-843, United States, 2021.

• Kaur M.P., Srikanthan S., Hanspal M., Champaneri J., and Mahmoudzadeh H., Optimal re-allocation of pay and display machines for Toronto parking authority, Mobility Management in Urban Areas: Models and Perspectives, 1-30, Canada, 2021.

• Mahmoudzadeh H., Mirahmadi Shalamzari A., and Abouee-Mehrizi H., Robust multi-class multi-period patient scheduling with wait time targets, Operations Research for Health Care, Volume 25, Canada, 2020.

• Shiri M., Ahmadizar F., Mahmoudzadeh H., and Bashiri M., A Two-Phase Method for Robust Home Healthcare Problem: A Case Study, Springer Proceedings in Mathematics and Statistics, Volume 127, 193-203, Iran, 2020.

• Unkelbach J., Alber M., Bangert M., Bokrantz R., Chan T.C.Y., Deasy J.O., Fredriksson A., Gorissen B.L., Van Herk M., Liu W., Mahmoudzadeh H., Nohadani O., Siebers J.V., Witte M., and Xu H., Robust radiotherapy planning, Physics in Medicine and Biology, Volume 63, Switzerland, 2018.

• Ghobadi K., Lee T., Mahmoudzadeh H., and Terekhov D., Robust inverse optimization, Operations Research Letters, Volume 46, 339-344, United States, 2018.

• Prof. Houra Mahmoudzadeh recognized for teaching excellence
• Seven researchers receive Graham Seed Fund awards