Dr. Hua (Julia) Fang of The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

This talk will explore two closely related topics: intelligent behavioral trajectory pattern recognition and real-time machine learning in digital trials. Federated learning and digital twins will be presented as natural extensions of these approaches, enabling scalable, privacy-preserving, and personalized digital health solutions. Federal-funded projects, along with newly developed AI algorithms, models, and web-based databases, will be introduced and demonstrated for each topic. The reproducibility of AI methods and real-time learning techniques will be discussed within the broader context of digital health and the Internet of Medical Things. Emerging trends, potential applications, and key challenges in these rapidly evolving areas will also be discussed.

Biography:

Dr. Hua (Julia) Fang is a Full Professor with tenure in the College of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an Adjunct Full Professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. She specializes in behavioral trajectory pattern recognition and missing data analysis and is the inventor of the patent "System and Methods for Trajectory Pattern Recognition." Dr. Fang’s current research focuses on machine learning and statistical learning for multisite longitudinal digital trials and wearable biosensor data, with broad applications in digital health, digital twins, and the Internet of Things (IoT). She has maintained continuous research funding from U.S. federal agencies for over 15 years and has served on study panels for these organizations.

While being an active ASA member and an IEEE Senior Member, Dr. Fang has been selected as a 2025–2026 IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer. She has contributed to several prominent IEEE editorial boards, including the IEEE IoT Journal and IEEE Transactions on Big Data, and has participated in technical program committees for major ACM/IEEE and international conferences in data mining, AI and connected health. Currently, she is an Area Editor for the IEEE IoT Journal, specializing in Artificial Intelligence for IoT. In addition, Dr. Fang is a member of the IEEE HEALTHCOM Steering Committee and has served as an Advisory Group member of the IEEE Standards Association (SA) Healthcare Life Science Practice Program, focusing on breakthrough technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.