Faculty
Dr. Kai Zheng
“In today’s world, information is the most critical tool in everything we do,” says Professor Kai Zheng. As a leading expert in the field of health informatics, he is pioneering new ways of harnessing and utilizing information to improve health outcomes and maximize quality of life. “At its heart, my work is about understanding people: physicians, nurses, pharmacists, patients and their caregivers,” he says. “I want to find out how they interact with information through technology and how we can make that interaction more enjoyable and effective.”
kai.zheng@uci.edu
homepage
Dr. Yunan Chen
I am an Associate Professor of Informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. My research interests lie in the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Health Informatics. In particular, I am interested in designing and evaluating interactive systems for clinical documentation, patient-provider interaction and personal information management during chronic care. I received my PhD degree from the iSchool at Drexel University in 2008, and a Bachelor of Medicine degree from China Medical University in 2003.
My research aims to provide empirical, conceptual, and theoretical understandings of information practices in healthcare through in situ examination of how healthcare providers and consumers, e.g. patients and caregivers, interact with computerized technologies in their daily lives or work practices. I have done extensive research exploring sociotechnical impacts and design issues of electronic health records systems, and more recently, patient-facing applications, such as personal informatics tools and chronic disease management systems.
Currently, I am Director of the Undergraduate Minor Program in health informatics. Since Fall 2016, I have served as Vice Chair for Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Informatics.
yunanc [at] ics.uci.edu
homepage
Grad Students
Brian Tran
As we begin to interact with computers in more numerous and complex ways, as well as use automation in contexts that we never have before, how can we best manage the strengths of artificial and human intelligence to enhance people? Understanding technology through the lens of design for usability and productivity can help generate best practices for the effective use of automation.
As an MD-PhD student at University of California, Irvine, I am interested in studying technology use in the healthcare setting and creating tools that will better enable healthcare providers to focus on the most important part of medicine: caring for the patient.
Interests: Human-Computer interaction, Computer-supported cooperative work, Health Informatics, Clinical Documentation Support
bdtran@uci.edu
homepage
Zhaoyuan Su (Nick)
I am a Ph.D. student in the Informatics Department at the University of California, Irvine. Co-advised by Dr. Yunan Chen and Dr. Kai Zheng at the Health and Information (HAI) Lab, I bridge the disciplines of engineering, design thinking, and healthcare.
My research interests lie at the interaction of Human-Computer Interaction, Health Informatics, and Social Computing. In particular, I am fascinated by designing and evaluating technologies that encourage behavior change in health and wellness, online communities, and teamwork.
Before UCI, I received my B.S. degree in Architectural Design + Building Technology with a minor in Informatics from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. I was advised by Dr. Karrie Karahalios at the Social Space Group.
nick.su@uci.edu
homepage
Tera Reynolds, MPH, MA
I am a Ph.D. Candidate in the Informatics Department at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), under the mentorship of Dr. Kai Zheng. I am broadly interested in how we can improve the design and implementation of technologies that connect, facilitate interaction, and support the independent and collaborative health work of individuals (e.g., patients, general public/citizens) and health professionals (e.g., doctors, public health practitioners). Examples of such technologies include patient portals, Apple Health Records, and COVID-19 Contact Tracing applications. I am particularly interested in examining how we can eliminate digital health disparities. Prior to entering the Ph.D. program at UCI, I earned a B.A. in Biology from Lawrence University, a M.P.H. in Epidemiology and International Health from Boston University, and a M.A. in Information from University of Michigan. I have also worked as a program manager in the public health sector and was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa.
tlreynol@uci.edu
@TeraReynolds
homepage
Mustafa Hussain, MS
I have a Bachelor's in Computer Science from the University of Utah. But I have the same computer problems as anyone else. Computer problems aren't a matter of intelligence, they're a matter of ergonomics: How well does the interactive software fit the user's needs and expectations?
Physicians have computer problems, too, and that can make the difference between life and death for a hospitalized patient. That's why I'm studying health informatics as a doctoral candidate at UC Irvine: to help physicians help patients, by helping designers to create better interactive software.
Interests: Health Informatics, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Distributed Cognition
mihussai@uci.edu
homepage
Lu He
I am a Ph.D. student in the Informatics Department at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to that, I received my Bachelor degree in computer science at the University of Minnesota. I am interested in retrieving useful information from unstructured natural language data such as EHR, social media posts and online health community journals. My previous projects include retrieving supplement use status from clinical notes using machine learning models and understanding how expressive writing contributes to users' staying in online health communities.
lhe11@uci.edu
homepage
Mayara Costa Figueiredo, MS
I am a Ph.D. student in the Informatics Department at the University of California, Irvine, under the advisement of Dr. Yunan Chen and Dr. Kai Zheng. I am interested in how technology can be used to improve healthcare and assist patients, especially underserved populations and people with chronic conditions. I am currently investigating how patient-generated health data can be used to support patients and improve patient-provider interaction. My current project focuses on understanding the uncertainties women face when using self-tracking for fertility care and how to better support them. I have a B.S. and a M.S. in Computer Science from Federal University of Pará, Brazil, and prior to my PhD I have worked for 5 years as an IT analyst and project manager in the same university.
mcostafi@uci.edu
homepage
Staff
Alessandro Ghigi, MS
I have several years experience in software analysis, design and development, both at the corporate and at the research level.
I have an extensive experience with back-end (PHP, Python, Node.js, Java Enterprise, Spring Framework, Groovy on Grails, Liferay Portal), and front-end technologies (HTML5, CSS3, SaaS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, jQuery, AngularJS, AJAX, JSP and JSTL).
On the database level, I worked within different environments, including IBM DB2, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server. In the past few years, I mainly focused on the management and mainteinance of very large clinical datasets, including a set of parallel activities like data collection, cleansing and loading through ad-hoc scalable ETL procedures, as well as dashboard creation and visualization. Many of these activities involved the use of the Pentaho suite.
Many of my initial job assignments included development of GIS features, or manipulation of GIS data. For this reason, I also have a good experience with the ESRI suite (ArcIMS, ArcSDE, ArcGIS tools), with Google applications (Google Maps API, Google Earth), with Geoserver, and with GIS database support (DB2 Spatial Extender, Oracle Spatial, PostGIS).
I had a chance to widely apply common project methodologies and design patterns, as well as to use UML (use cases, static class diagrams, sequence diagrams) and development tools (Gulp, Grunt, Gradle, Bower, Flyway, Ant, Ivy, JUnit, SVN, Git, Log4J, Eclipse, Jenkins, Trac, Redmine, Jira, Confluence, DocBook, Markdown).
A significant part of my work history has involved leading and working within teams on different projects and interacting closely with clients. Sometimes software has been developed from scratch, starting from the client’s requirements: this gave me a chance also to improve my analytical and problem solving skills and to follow the whole software production lifecycle, from design to testing.
aghigi@hs.uci.edu
LinkedIn
Zhaoxian Hu, MS
I am a results-driven developer and data analyst. I code using Python, Java, JavaScript(TypeScript), Golang, HTML, CSS, SQL to answer different needs. I’m a fan of Vim, Linux, Git, RESTful API, Object-oriented programming, Test-driven development, Cloud computing, and DevOps. At work, I spend time tackling a wide variety of information in the healthcare field, and I really appreciate all the experiences that challenge me to learn new skills and explore different directions.
huzhx@uci.edu
LinkedIn
Alumni
Dr. Clara Caldeira
I am a Computing Innovation Fellow in the Department of Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington. My research in Human-Computer Interaction involves topics such as aging in place technology, chronic condition management, cultural and psychosocial aspects of users’ experiences, and human-data interaction. My work has been published in top-tier peer-reviewed conferences and journals. I earned my PhD and Master’s Degrees in Informatics from the University of California, Irvine, and my Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from University of Brasilia, Brazil.
claram@uci.edu
homepage
Dr. Elizabeth Eikey
I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science as well as the Design Lab at UC San Diego. I received my PhD in Information Sciences and Technology from the Pennsylvania State University and completed my postdoctoral fellowship in Informatics at the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences and the Institute for Clinical & Translational Science at UC Irvine. I am the Assistant Director of the iSchool Inclusion Institute (i3) and the Director of the Mental Health in Design (MiD) Lab. My research broadly focuses on mental health, technology, and equity.
eeikey@health.ucsd.edu
homepage
Dr. Sun Young Park
I am currently an assistant professor at the University of Michigan in the Stamps School of Art and Design and the School of Information. As a design researcher and interaction designer, I’m interested in complex systems, services, and environments that shape people’s needs, behaviors, and cultures/practices. My research interests lie at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Health Informatics, and I’m particularly interested in examining the social, technical, contextual and cultural dimensions of social computing systems.
Prior to my position at the University of Michigan, I completed my PhD in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. My PhD dissertation is titled, "Learning from Users' Adaptation Experience: Outlining the Design Space for Health IT Systems” (advised by Yunan Chen). I previously earned a Master Degree at Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor degree at Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, Korea.
sunypark@umich.edu
homepage
Dr. Xinning Gui
My interests lie in the intersection of healthcare and human-computer interaction. My current project utilizes qualitative methods to understand the ways ordinary citizens navigate the healthcare system, with a focus on how they build and maintain relevant competency to cope with the often complicated organizational and informational situations. I received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in modern Chinese literature.
guix@uci.edu
homepage
Dr. Yu Chen
As a researcher, designer, and engineer, my research is mainly grounded in Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Supported Collaborative Work, Ubiquitous Computing, and Health Informatics. I aim to apply social psychology theories in mobile technologies to enhance human welfare. I first gather user requirements using qualitative methods, and then implement system interfaces and functions with standard design and development tools. I evaluate the systems by conducting longitudinal studies using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. I received my Ph.D. in Computer and Communication Sciences from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland in 2015. My supervisor was Dr. Pearl Pu, the director of Human Computer Interaction Group. Before that, I received my Master's degrees in Security and Mobile Computing from both Aalto University in Finland and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Norway in 2010 and Bachelor's degree in Information Security from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China in 2008. I was a research intern in the headquarter of Nokia Research Center in Helsinki in 2009 and 2010.
ychen25@uci.edu
Other Members
| Name | Role | When |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Xiaoyong Liu | Visited from Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University | Summer 2016-2017 |
| Jiawen Zhang | Undergraduate | Summer 2020 - Present |
| Meghna Kaligotla | Undergraduate | Fall 2020 - Present |
| Lauren Sukumar | Undergraduate | Spring 2017-Present |
| Fatemeh Mousavi | Research volunteer | Fall 2016-Present |
| Diane Monchusap | Undergraduate | Spring 2017 |
| Justin Park | Interned as junior undergraduate from Cornell University | Summer 2016 |
| Tiancheng Lin | Junior undergraduate from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications | Summer 2016 |
| Amid Ayobi, MS | Visited from University College London | Summer 2016 |
