Timothy Chan is the Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost, Strategic Initiatives at the University of Toronto, the Canada Research Chair in Novel Optimization and Analytics in Health, a Professor in the department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and a Senior Fellow of Massey College. He was previously Director of the Centre for Healthcare Engineering, Director of the Centre for Analytics and AI Engineering, and Associate Director, Research and Thematic Programming, of the Data Sciences Institute. His primary research interests are in operations research, optimization, and applied machine learning, with applications in healthcare, medicine, sustainability, and sports.
Professor Chan received his B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from the University of British Columbia (2002), and his Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007). Before coming to Toronto, he was an Associate in the Chicago office of McKinsey and Company (2007-2009), a global management consulting firm. During that time, he advised leading companies in the fields of medical device technology, travel and hospitality, telecommunications, and energy on issues of strategy, organization, technology and operations.
Professor Chan currently holds editorial roles in seven academic journals, including Operations Research, Management Science, and M&SOM. He has served in a variety of leadership and service roles at INFORMS and CORS, including as President of the INFORMS Health Application Society. He has over 120 publications in refereed journals, and is co-author of an upcoming book entitled “Introduction to Markov Decision Processes”. He has graduated over 50 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and takes great pride in cultivating a healthy, inclusive, and productive lab environment.
Professor Chan has received numerous awards and honours for his research, teaching and service. Recent highlights include the President’s Teaching Award from the University of Toronto in 2024, 1st place in the research paper competition at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in 2024, the INFORMS Prize for Teaching OR/MS Practice in 2023, the Pierskalla Best Paper Award from INFORMS Health Applications Society in 2023, 1st place in the INFORMS Case Competition in 2022, and the CORS Eldon Gunn Service Award in 2022. His research has been featured by the CBC, CTV News, Global News, Reuters, CNN, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Boston Globe, ESPN, Canadian Business Magazine, and World Economic Forum.
| Editorial Leadership | |
| Operations Research | Associate Editor (2024 – present) |
| Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports | Associate Editor (2024 – present) |
| Service Science | Deputy Editor (2024 – present) Associate Editor (2019 – present) |
| Management Science | Associate Editor (2024 – present) |
| Manufacturing & Service Operations Management | Associate Editor (2021 – present) |
| Health Care Management Science | Editorial Board member / Associate Editor (2019 – present) |
| Operations Research for Health Care | Editorial Board member (2015 – present) |
| IISE Transactions | Associate Editor (2018 – 2024) |
| Additional Affiliations | |
| Data Sciences Institute | Faculty affiliate (2021 – present); Associate Director, Research and Thematic Programming (2021-2022) |
| Centre for Analytics and AI Engineering | Faculty affiliate (2019 – present); Director (2019-2022) |
| Vector Institute | Faculty affiliate (2019 – present) |
| Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital | Affiliate scientist (2015 – present) |
| Techna Institute, University Health Network | Faculty affiliate (2012 – present) |
| Centre for Healthcare Engineering | Faculty affiliate (2009 – present); Director (2014 – 2021) |
| Year | Award/Honour |
| 2025 | First place, CORS Practice Prize |
| 2024 | President’s Teaching Award, University of Toronto |
| 2024 | 2nd place, Innovative Applications in Analytics Award, INFORMS Analytics Society |
| 2024 | First place, Research paper competition, MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference |
| 2023 | Dudley White International Scholar Award, American Heart Association |
| 2023 | INFORMS Prize for Teaching OR/MS Practice |
| 2023 | First place, Pierskalla Best Paper Award, INFORMS Health Applications Section |
| 2023 | Finalist, M&SOM Practice-Based Research Competition |
| 2023 | Sinai Health's Excellence in Quality and Safety Award (Team Category Innovation Award) |
| 2023 | Honourable Mention, CORS Practice Prize |
| 2023 | Second place, POMS Best Healthcare Paper Award |
| 2022 | First place, INFORMS Case Competition |
| 2022 | Finalist, Pierskalla Best Paper Award, INFORMS Health Applications Section |
| 2022 | CORS Eldon Gunn Service Award |
| 2021 | Finalist, Pierskalla Best Paper Award, INFORMS Health Applications Section |
| 2021 | Senior Fellow, Massey College, University of Toronto |
| 2020 | Second place, Pierskalla Best Paper Award, INFORMS Health Applications Section |
| 2020 | Second place, INFORMS Case Competition, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences |
| 2020 | Teaching Award, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto |
| 2020 | Canada Research Chair (renewal), NSERC |
| 2019 | Teaching Award, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto |
| 2018 | Editors Choice article, Medical Physics |
| 2016 | Best poster abstract presentation, NAEMSP Annual Meeting |
| 2015 | Canada Research Chair, NSERC |
| 2014 | Best in Physics, AAPM Annual Meeting |
| 2014 | Finalist, CORS Practice Prize, Canadian Operational Research Society |
| 2013 | First place, Research paper competition, MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference |
| 2013 | Early Career Teaching Award, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto |
| 2012 | Early Career Teaching Award, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto |
| 2012 | Second place, Best paper competition, INFORMS Section on Public Programs, Service and Needs |
| 2012 | Early Researcher Award, Province of Ontario |
| 2012 | Connaught New Researcher Award, University of Toronto |
| 2007 | First Place, George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award, INFORMS |
| 2007 | Honorable mention, George Nicholson Student Paper Competition, INFORMS |
| 2007 | Hugh Hampton Young Memorial Fund Fellowship, MIT |
| 2006 | First place, Student paper competition, CORS |
| 2005 | Graduate Leadership Award, Student Life Programs, MIT |
| 2004 | Postgraduate Scholarship, NSERC |
| 2002 | Postgraduate Scholarship, NSERC |
| 2002 | Presidential Fellowship, MIT |
| 2001 | Wesbrook Scholar, UBC |
| Year | Award to Trainees |
| 2025 | Craig Fernandes – First place, CORS student paper competition, open category |
| 2024 | Muhammad Maaz – Winner, Lee B. Lusted Student Prize (Quantitative Methods and Theoretical Development), Society for Medical Decision Making |
| 2024 | Bo Lin – First place, TSL Best Student Paper Award, INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics Society |
| 2024 | Jangwon Park – First place, CORS Student Paper Competition, Health Care Operational Research SIG |
| 2024 | Jangwon Park – Honourable mention, CORS Student Paper Competition, Queueing and Applied Probability SIG |
| 2024 | Bo Lin – Finalist, CORS Gilbert Laporte Student Paper Award |
| 2023 | Ian Zhu – First place, CORS student paper competition, open category |
| 2023 | Bo Lin – Honorable mention, CORS student paper competition, open category |
| 2023 | Rachael Walker – Finalist, CORS student paper competition UG category |
| 2022 | Ethan Baron – First place, CORS student paper competition UG category |
| 2021 | Christina Seo – Best Abstract in Science and Applied Technology, Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology Virtual Scientific Meeting |
| 2021 | Nasrin Yousefi – First place, student paper competition, INFORMS Health Applications Society |
| 2021 | Nasrin Yousefi – First place, student paper competition open category, CORS |
| 2021 | Benjamin Leung – Best student presentation, NAEMSP |
| 2020 | Benjamin Leung – Young Investigator Award, AHA |
| 2020 | Matthew Crowson – Neurotology Fellow Award, ANS |
| 2019 | Aaron Babier – Rising Stars competition finalist, ICCR |
| 2018 | Rafid Mahmood – Second place, student paper competition open category, CORS |
| 2018 | Craig Fernandes – Second place, student paper competition UG category, CORS |
| 2017 | Auyon Siddiq – Second place, student paper competition, INFORMS Health Applications Society |
| 2016 | Christopher Sun – Young Investigator Award, AHA ReSS |
| 2016 | Justin Boutilier – Young Investigator Award, AHA ReSS |
| 2014 | Auyon Siddiq – First place, student paper competition, CORS |
| 2014 | Sarina Turner – Outstanding energy paper award, Institute for Sustainable Energy, University of Toronto |
| 2013 | Taewoo Lee – First place, student paper competition, CORS |
| 2013 | Taewoo Lee – First place, student paper competition, INFORMS Health Applications Society |
| 2013 | Sarina Turner – Outstanding energy paper award, Institute for Sustainable Energy, University of Toronto |
| 2012 | Velibor Music – Second place, student paper competition, CORS |
| Date | Title | Medium |
| 2025-03-24 | Where should we place naloxone kits to save the most lives? | U of T Engineering News Related: CTV News; Radio Canada |
| 2024-11-29 | Canadian supercomputing gets a boost | CityNews |
| 2024-10-28 | U of T experts use machine learning to analyze where bike lanes should be located for maximum benefit | U of T News Paper: "Exploring the geographical equity-efficiency tradeoff in cycling infrastructure planning" |
| 2024-10-22 | U of T receives $52 million to upgrade SciNet supercomputer | U of T News |
| 2024-09-20 | Research exchange with Duke University – Drones as first responders | News from Karolinska Institutet |
| 2024-01-07 | More start-ups, applications in health-care, questions around flaws and CO2 emissions: AI predictions for 2024 | CTV News |
| 2023-12-27 | Five ways artificial intelligence is improving health care in Canada | Healthing.ca |
| 2023-12-07 | Drones deliver defibrillators faster than ambulances | IEEE Spectrum |
| 2023-11-24 | U of T and partner hospitals are improving patient care with new data tools | The Globe and Mail |
| 2023-11-20 | How AI could help optimize nutrient consistency in donated human breast milk | U of T Engineering News Related: Breaking News Network; eMedNews; Technology Networks Paper: "Predicting protein and fat content in human donor milk using machine learning" |
| 2023-05-18 | The perils of worklist cherry-picking | Imaging Wire Paper: "Negative externality on service level across priority classes: Evidence from a radiology workflow platform" |
| 2022-02-03 | Lessons learned by hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic | INFORMS News Room |
| 2022-01-05 | World first: Drone delivers defibrillator that saves man in cardiac arrest | leaps.org Related: INFORMS Resoundingly Human |
| 2021-07-20 | This interactive tool allows you to build your own Kraken roster ahead of Wednesday’s expansion draft | Seattle Times |
| 2021-04-28 | Ford's ever-smarter robots are speeding up the assembly line | Wired |
| 2021-04-07 | Analytics, athletics, and you | McGill Tribune |
| 2021-03-18 | How pandemic bike lanes made some Canadian cities more accessible | CBC News Paper: "The impact of COVID-19 cycling infrastructure on low-stress cycling accessibility: A case study in the city of Toronto" |
| 2021-03-10 | Ontario vaccine rollout plan | CTV News Channel Related: CTV News; Global News; Toronto Star; Vancouver Sun |
| 2021-03-04 | Is a single dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine enough? | Verywell Health |
| 2020-11-13 | How an optimization algorithm can help Ontario detect opportunities for better cancer care | OICR News |
| 2020-04-23 | U of T Engineering team develops redeployment tool to optimize hospital staffing amid COVID-19 | U of T Engineering News Related: Engineering Dimensions |
| 2019-09-16 | Optimized placement of defibrillators may improve cardiac arrest outcomes | American College of Cardiology Related: DOC Defibrillator; Medscape; U of T Engineering News; UHN Research News Paper: "In silico trial of optimized versus real public defibrillator locations" |
| 2018-12-26 | Mind Games: Instructors explore game-based learning | University Affairs |
| 2018-08-01 | AI designs radiation therapy treatment plan for cancer in twenty minutes | Forbes Related: Artificial Intelligence News; El Pais; Science Daily; U of T Engineering News; UHN News Paper: "Knowledge-based automated planning for oropharyngeal cancer" |
| 2017-06-13 | U of T engineers an expansion roster for Vegas with the click of a button | Toronto Star Related: Boston Globe; EurekaAlert!; Sportsnet; U of T Engineering News Paper: "A mathematical optimization framework for expansion draft decision making and analysis" |
| 2017-03-20 | Coffee shops, ATMs may be ideal locations for defibrillators, study says | CNN Related: American Heart Association; CBC News; CTV News; Global News; HealthDay; Reuters; U of T News Paper: "Ranking businesses and municipal locations by spatiotemporal cardiac arrest risk to guide public defibrillator placement" |
| 2017-03-16 | Can drones deliver emergency defibrillators? | Reuters Related: Business Insider; CBC News; EMSWorld; Futurism; Toronto Star; U of T News; Welland Tribune Paper: "Optimizing a drone network to deliver automated external defibrillators" |
| 2016-12-16 | Podcast: Have you been playing match play incorrectly? | Golf.com Related: Yahoo! Sports Paper: "Improving fairness in match play golf through enhanced handicap allocation" |
| 2016-08-19 | Life-saving heart devices often inaccessible in public places | Reuters Related: Cardiovascular Business; HealthDay; U of T News Paper: "Overcoming spatial and temporal barriers to public access defibrillators via optimization" |
| 2015-12-16 | How can we get patients in developing countries to hospital faster? | World Economic Forum Related: U of T News Paper: "Ambulance Emergency Response Optimization in developing countries" |
| 2015-11-10 | AEDs save lives but AEDs in hiding are rendered useless | Huffington Post Related: EMS1.com; HealthDay; MD Magazine; U of T News Paper: "Overcoming spatial and temporal barriers to public access defibrillators via optimization |
| 2013-10-14 | Money Puck [cover story] | Canadian Business Magazine Related: U of T News Paper: "Quantifying the contribution of NHL player types to team performance" |
| 2013-05-02 | Cardiac arrest ‘hot spots’ in Toronto mapped by researchers | Toronto Star Related: CBC News Paper: "Identifying locations for public access defibrillators using mathematical optimization" |
| 2013 (April) | How can radiation therapy target a moving tumor? | Industrial Engineer magazine Vol. 45, No. 4 Paper: "Motion-compensating intensity maps in intensity-modulated radiation therapy" |
| 2013-03-05 | BP unfiltered: Why multi-position players matter | Baseball Prospectus Related: Athletics Nation; Bluebird Banter Paper: "Process flexibility in baseball: The value of positional flexibility" |
| 2013-02-19 | New studies change how you see sports | ESPN the Magazine Related: MIT News Paper: "Process flexibility in baseball: The value of positional flexibility" |
| 2010-11-15 | Areas of Toronto need life-saving defibrillators | CBC News Related: Toronto Star Paper: "Identifying locations for public access defibrillators using mathematical optimization" |