AI-based pancreatic cancer screening
Risk prediction and earlier detection of pancreatic cancer using longitudinal clinical data.
AI for Healthcare · Early Cancer Screening
Jifan Gao 高济凡
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
I develop machine learning methods for clinical prediction, with a current focus on AI-based pancreatic cancer screening. My broader interests include multimodal learning, explainable AI, and model generalizability across healthcare systems and institutions.
Research
Research interests
Clinical multimodal learning
Methods that integrate structured EHR data, text, imaging, and other clinical modalities.
Explainable AI
Interpretable and clinically meaningful explanations for predictive models.
Model generalizability
Building models that remain reliable across healthcare systems, institutions, and patient populations.
Background
Education
2025
PhD, Biomedical Data Science
University of Wisconsin–Madison
2023
MS, Computer Science
University of Wisconsin–Madison
2020
MS, Biomedical Data Science
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Recognition
Selected honors
2026
All of Us Research Highlight
Featured for work on fair two-year stroke risk prediction. Read feature
2025
NeurIPS GenAI for Health Workshop Travel Award
2024
JAMIA Journal Club selection
Trauma severity stratification paper selected as a monthly discussion paper.
2023
Honorable Mention · NIH Long COVID Computational Challenge
$16,777 award. Challenge results
2022
1st place · Microbiome DREAM Challenge
Preterm Birth Prediction, Task 1. Challenge results
2022
3rd place · National NLP Clinical Challenges
n2c2 Track 3 — Progress Note Understanding. Challenge results
2022
1st place · Pediatric COVID-19 Data Challenge
HHS/BARDA, Task 1 · $100,000 award. Challenge results
2021
2nd place · COVID-19 DREAM Challenge
Task 1. Challenge results
2020
1st place · EHR DREAM Challenge
Patient Mortality prediction. Challenge results
More about me
Beyond research
Record
Guinness World Records participant
I participated in a Guinness World Records event for the most people simultaneously keeping a soccer ball in the air. View photo
Driving
Driving enthusiast
I enjoy driving manual-transmission cars and trucks—even box trucks— although I don't currently own either.
Sports
Soccer & fandom
In my spare time, I enjoy playing soccer. I’m also an avid fan of Liverpool FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, the Green Bay Packers, and the Milwaukee Bucks—teams that have given me plenty of practice managing expectations. More recently, my son’s enthusiasm for NASCAR has rubbed off on me, and I’ve become a Ryan Blaney fan.