Mad Minute with Dan Taylor

Share some details about your background and how you ended up at MCIRCC.

My background is in applying machine learning algorithms to several different problem domains. I started at Michigan Aerospace applying clustering algorithms to identify sources of radar pulses. Most recently, I was at General Motors working on the autonomous car project.

A few years ago, my daughter was in the NICU at St. Joseph and Mott Hospitals. As I saw the other sick kids, I thought that it would be great to work in medicine someday so that I could help them. My position as a data scientist at MCIRCC is the perfect place for me to be able to apply my knowledge data analysis to problems in medicine!
 

What projects or specific aspects about MCIRCC do you look forward to the most?

Generally, I really appreciate the collaborative aspect of MCIRCC. It's exciting to see people from varied backgrounds, from medicine to business, talking about solutions to problems that affect so many lives!

Given what drew me into medicine in the first place, I am most looking forward to being able to work on solutions that will affect pediatric care.


What is the one thing about your work that would be helpful for MCIRCC members to understand?

Machine learning is not magic! Somehow there is this conception that given any stack of data, someone with know-how can turn it into amazing answers regardless of the quality of said data. It is important to understand that a learning algorithm can only learn relationships that are present in the dataset.
 

Tell us something interesting about yourself - a unique talent, fun fact, etc.

My wife and I have been married for almost eight years and are expecting baby number five at the end of this year! Some people might consider that a fun fact (or perhaps a unique talent in a strange sort of way).