MLD3 Vision, Mission, and Values

Vision Statement

We aim to advance the state-of-the-art in machine learning for health.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to develop the computational methods needed to help organize, process, and transform data into actionable knowledge with the ultimate goal of improving health.

Values Statement (alphabetical order)

  • Data Privacy and Confidentiality
    • As a group that works with protected health information (PHI), electronic health records (EHR) and other sensitive data, maintaining data privacy and confidentiality is paramount. We respect the privacy of patients and physicians who contribute, either directly or indirectly, to the data used in our research, and treat the data used in our work as if it were collected from our own family members. To that end, we maintain clear processes for secure data storage and compute in the lab, and we stay up to date on HIPAA regulations and data privacy and confidentiality best practices. 
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
    • Diversity of backgrounds, perspectives and skill sets enables creativity, expands our horizons and encourages new ways of thinking, inspiring novel approaches to challenging problems. We stand up against discrimination, harassment and bias, and are dedicated to creating a lab environment in which everyone feels welcome and can reach their full potential. Not only do we strive to eliminate bias in our group and collaborations, but we prioritize mitigating any harmful or misleading biases in the AI and ML approaches we develop/use in our work. 
  • Excellence and Innovation
    • We strive to develop cutting-edge approaches in AI and ML motivated by use-cases and challenges that arise in healthcare (e.g., disease predictions, clinical decision making). An overview of our research can be found here: https://wiens-group.engin.umich.edu/research/
  • Impact
    • We aim to have a broad impact and strive to publish our findings at top-tier journals and conferences across computer science and clinical research communities. This includes venues such as MLHC, JAMIA, KDD, NeurIPS, ICML, and IJCAI IEEE, to name a few. A list of selected publications from our group can be found here: https://wiens-group.engin.umich.edu/publications/
  • Ingenuity
    • We value a ‘can-do’ attitude. Being a self-starter who takes charge and finds resourceful and creative ways to make progress on their work is a work style for which we strive. We seek out ways to make progress by taking action both by asking others for help and independently devising strategies for overcoming unexpected obstacles in our work.
  • Integrity
    • From the research problems we solve to how we report research findings, it is of utmost importance in the MLD3 lab to conduct ethical research with integrity. In using state-of-the-art machine learning for health, we aim to do the right thing for patients, physicians, and health systems ranging from improving health outcomes, reducing provider burnout, and addressing issues of bias. Throughout the research process, we encourage proactive and open communication about bugs we encounter or any mistakes that are made to ensure the reputability of our research claims. 
  • Professionalism, Collegiality, and Respect
    • We value a collaborative and collegial approach to research. Professional growth as researchers is achieved through a culture of helpfulness and mutual respect. In the group, we respect one another as colleagues and professionals. We value communicating ideas and results with one another and place the focus of our discussions on the exciting ways we can continue making forward progress toward our shared research vision.
  • Transparency
    • We value transparency and research reproducibility and make it a priority to release our code, results, and findings along with data to the extent that we can. For more information you can visit MLD3’s GitLab page here: https://gitlab.eecs.umich.edu/mld3   
    • Additionally, when things go wrong and we face challenges in our research or collaborations, we see proactive open and honest communication as the best solution. To build group trust and resolve any problems or conflicts, our goal is to create an environment where everyone feels safe and comfortable to engage in transparent and honest communication with each other.
  • Well-being
    • For each group member to reach their full potential, special emphasis must be placed on one’s physical and mental health. To support the well-being of all members, we encourage communicating openly with group members, taking breaks from work when needed, setting reasonable goals, providing constructive feedback, exercising, and setting boundaries. We also host group activities to facilitate socialization and camaraderie in the group.
    • Lab Secret Santa with all members!