Speakers Who Inspire
Inaugural Speaker
Caroline G.L. Cao
Professor and Dean of Faculty of Engineering
University of Ottawa
Canada“Human Factors Research in Healthcare”
Caroline G. L. Cao is Dean of Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa in Canada. She received a Ph.D. in mechanical & industrial engineering from the University of Toronto in 2002. Dean Cao is a researcher, educator and entrepreneur with extensive experience in the design and development of medical systems and devices, and enabling technology (AR/VR, simulation and training, decision aid, sensory substitution, navigational aid, robotics, etc.) for minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery. Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, she was International Chair for Industry of the Future and Professor of Computer Science at IMT Atlantique in Brest, France from 2021 to 2023, where she developed partnerships with industries to address challenges in Industry 4.0 and 5.0 (e.g., digital twins, human-robot interaction, artificial intelligence, XR technology, system resilience). She was Director of Engineering Innovation and Medical Simulation at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine , University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, from 2023-2025. Dr. Cao is a recipient of the US National Science Foundation Career Award, a US Fulbright Scholar award, and the International Chair of RFI ATLANSTIC 2020 in France. Dr. Cao is an elected Fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She is Associate Editor of the journal Human Factors. Dr. Cao is currently President of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
Keynote Speaker
Myung Hwan Yun
Professor and the Director of of Human Interface Systems Laboratory at the Department of Industrial EngineeringSeoul National UniversitySouth Korea“Intelligentizing Human Factors for Digital Healthcare Innovation : Designing for Symbiosis”
Myung Hwan Yun is a Professor and the Director of Human Interface Systems Laboratory at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. He is also a former president of the Ergonomics Society of Korea and was the Organizing Chair for IEA (International Ergonomics Association)’s triennial conference, the IEA 2024 JEJU. He is also a Fellow of IEA, ACED and ESK.
He received his B.S. and M.S. in industrial engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea and a PhD in industrial and manufacturing engineering from Penn State University, USA. His research interests include Human Interface Design, User Experience Research, Affective Product Development and Auditory User Interface.
Professor Yun spent most of his career advising and co-operating with major product/service developers in South Korea including Samsung Electronics (Mobile Products, Home Appliances), Hyundai Motors (Interior Trim, Perceived Quality, Sound Design, Driver Seat) and Hana Financial Group (User Experience, Customer Journey Planning)
Keynote Speaker
Shao-Jen Weng
Chairman of Healthcare Systems ConsortiumTaiwan
Dr. Shao-Jen Weng is a Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Enterprise Information at Tunghai University, where he also serves as the Chairman of the Healthcare Systems Consortium. He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University, specializing in the application of advanced computational modeling and optimization within complex healthcare service systems.
His primary research interests reside at the intersection of Operations Research, Discrete-Event Simulation (DES), and Lean Healthcare. Dr. Weng’s scholarly work focuses on developing robust simulation frameworks to enhance operational efficiency and patient safety in high-acuity clinical environments. By integrating Lean Six Sigma methodologies with stochastic modeling, his research provides data-driven solutions for resource allocation, outpatient scheduling, and emergency department throughput optimization.
Throughout his academic tenure, Dr. Weng has spearheaded numerous interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with leading medical centers in Taiwan. His contributions to the field are documented in peer-reviewed journals such as Health Care Management Science, the International Journal of Production Research, and the Journal of Medical Systems. His research not only addresses theoretical gaps in industrial engineering but also offers practical, scalable implementations for healthcare administrators facing increasing systemic volatility.
In addition to his research portfolio, Dr. Weng is a dedicated educator and a senior member of several professional engineering societies. He frequently serves as a technical consultant for healthcare digital transformation initiatives, advocating for the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Twin technology in hospital management. His current work explores the synergy between simulation-based decision support systems and real-time data analytics to foster more resilient healthcare infrastructures.
“The Evolution of the Healthcare Systems Consortium (HSC): Pioneering Digital Healthcare in Taiwan”
Forum Panelist
Yang Fann
Director of Clinical InformaticsNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
USA
Dr. Fann joined NINDS in 2002 as the Director of the Intramural IT and Bioinformatics Program overseeing the information technology support services and infrastructures as well as developing biomedical informatics research services including many database tools and clinical applications to assist investigators with their research. In addition to his role at NINDS, he served as a principal investigator on the Informatics Core of Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine working on building the informatics infrastructure for the National Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Study, a collaborative research program of the DoD and NIH from 2009 to2023.
Among his notable achievements is the creation of the Purchasing On-line Tracking System (POTS). This innovative system streamlined scientific procurement administration and garnered recognition within the NIH community. Dr. Fann’s groundbreaking work earned him the first-ever HHS Innovates Award presented by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2010. Collaboration is at the heart of Dr. Fann’s work. He co-led an international team with Dr. Matthew McAuliffe at the Center for Information Technology (CIT). Together, they developed the Biomedical Research Informatics Computing System (BRICS)—a reusable and sustainable integrated biomedical informatics platform. BRICS supports and catalyzes biomedical research and data sharing. Notably, this system has received numerous industrial and government awards.
In addition to his NINDS responsibilities, Dr. Fann actively participates in various NIH advisory and steering committees. These include the NIH IT Budget Advisory Committee (ITBAC), the Clinical Center IT Advisory Committee, the NIH IT Management Committee, the NIH High Performance Computing Working Group, the NIH STRIDES Enterprise Cloud Advisory Committee, and the NIH Biomedical Informatics Coordination (BMIC) Working Group. He also co-chairs the Biomedical Translational Research Information System (BTRIS) Steering Committee.
Recently Dr. Fann has recently assumed the role of Director of Clinical Informatics for the National Institutes of Health’s Intramural Research Program (IRP). In this capacity, he is responsible for addressing a wide range of clinical informatics challenges related to the clinical research program within the NIH IRP. His strategic vision includes assessing and developing new approaches to clinical informatics within the IRP. His focus is on providing informatics solutions that streamline collaboration, simplify compliance, and enable data sharing. To achieve this, he aims to implement a data ecosystem with interoperability across relevant IRP-wide systems, including e-IRB, CRIS, and IC clinical information systems.
Beyond his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Fann has made significant contributions to the scientific community. He has served on several journals’ editorial boards and recently acted as a scientific judge for the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset Challenge (CORD-19)—an AI challenge involving collaboration between AI2, CZI, MSR, Georgetown, NIH, and The White House.
His dedication and expertise have earned him numerous accolades, including NINDS and NIH Director’s Awards. Dr. Fann’s current research interests span computational biology, bioinformatics, and clinical research informatics. He also explores the application of information technology, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, to advance translational biomedical research.