AI-Driven Research in Healthcare

My research sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence and systems engineering. I build computational tools that don't just analyze health data — they act on it. My focus is agentic AI: autonomous systems that reason, adapt, and operate intelligently within the complex adaptive environments of healthcare delivery and public health.

This AI-first vision is grounded in rigorous systems engineering — simulation and optimization methods that have informed real-world decisions at healthcare organizations and federal agencies. My goal is to translate this into a new generation of intelligent health systems: tools that make smarter decisions, adapt to changing conditions, and ultimately improve outcomes for patients and communities.

Building intelligent systems that reason, adapt, and act in complex healthcare environments.

Meet the Principal Investigator

Melike Yildirim, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator, Health Services Research Lab
Assistant Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering & Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University

Melike Yildirim is an systems engineer and health services researcher whose work focuses on improving healthcare delivery through advanced modeling and analytics. Her research integrates AI modelling with data science, simulation, and optimization to support decision-making in healthcare systems.

She has developed several decision support tools for public agencies—including BREATHE, an evaluation tool for pediatric asthma interventions—and has collaborated with institutions such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and multiple Departments of Health.

Prior to joining Wayne State, Yildirim completed research fellowships at Harvard Medical School and the CDC, and earned her Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech.

My goal is to use data-driven methods and systems thinking to help decision-makers make informed, practical decisions that improve outcomes.