Lina Song, Ph.D.

Academic CV · Madison, Wisconsin · hello@linasong.com · Updated September 2026

Research interests

Healthcare operations, decision science, service operations, public-sector operations management, causal inference, cost-effectiveness analysis, decision systems deployment, AI governance in healthcare.

Academic positions

  • Seoul National University, Cognitive AI Lab — Visiting Researcher (2024–present)
  • Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures — Faculty Fellow (2022–2024)
  • University College London, School of Management — Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Operations & Technology (2020–2024)

Education

  • Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences — Ph.D., Decision Science / Health Policy (2020)
    Dissertation: Data-Driven Healthcare Operations Management: The Role of Provider Market and Public Policy. Committee: Soroush Saghafian (chair), Joseph P. Newhouse, Mary Beth Landrum, Richard Zeckhauser.
  • Yale University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences — M.A., Statistics (2012)
  • California Institute of Technology — B.S., Applied and Computational Mathematics, graduated with honor (2010)

Publications — journal articles

  1. Song, Lina D., Soroush Saghafian, Joseph P. Newhouse, Mary Beth Landrum, and John Hsu. "The impact of vertical integration on healthcare delivery: evidence from gastroenterology practices." Management Science (2022). AHRQ R36 Health Services Research Dissertation Grant · POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management Best Paper Award, 1st place.
  2. Saghafian, S., Lina D. Song, and Ali Raja (M.D.). "Towards a more efficient healthcare system: opportunities and challenges caused by hospital closures amid the COVID-19 pandemic." Health Care Management Science (2022).
  3. Song, Lina D. and Zack Peterson. "Doing good with good OR: lessons learned from 1000 Days Fund." INFORMS OR/MS Today (2022).
  4. Song, Lina D., Joseph P. Newhouse, Xabier Garcia-De-Albeniz, and John Hsu. "Changes in screening colonoscopy following Medicare reimbursement and cost-sharing changes." Health Services Research (2019).
  5. Song, Dahye L., Frederick L. Altice, Michael M. Copenhaver, and Elisa F. Long. "Cost-effectiveness analysis of brief and expanded evidence-based risk reduction interventions for HIV-infected people who inject drugs in the United States." PLoS One (2015): e0116694.
  6. Boyd, Andrew T., Dahye L. Song, Jaimie P. Meyer, and Frederick L. Altice. "Emergency department use among HIV-infected released jail detainees." Journal of Urban Health (2015): 108–135.

Working papers

  • Song, Lina D. and Soroush Saghafian. "The spillover effects of hospital closures on the efficiency and quality of other hospitals." Under review, Production and Operations Management.
  • Song, Lina D. and Soroush Saghafian. "The allocation of funds in healthcare: which hospital to support?" In preparation.

Conference presentations

  • "Using claims data to simulate COVID payment policies: urban–rural access and equity trade-offs in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea." AcademyHealth ARM, Seattle — poster (June 2026).
  • "Algorithmic health advertising in non-clinical settings: a cluster-randomized A/B test shows adverse access and utilization shifts in lower provider-density areas in South Korea." AcademyHealth ARM, Seattle — poster (May 2026); SMDM 48th Annual Meeting, Oslo — poster (June 2026).
  • "The impact of vertical integration on healthcare delivery: evidence from gastroenterology practices." POMS (2022), INFORMS (2019–2021), IFORS (2021), INFORMS Healthcare (2019, 2021), MSOM (2021), POMS (2021), Electronic Health Economics Colloquium (2020), European TOM Seminar (2020), AcademyHealth (2018, 2020).
  • "The allocation of funds in healthcare: which hospital to support?" POMS (2021, 2022), INFORMS Healthcare (2021), MSOM (2021), INFORMS (2020).
  • "The impact of drug manufacturers' noncompliance to 340B drug pricing programs on U.S. hospitals." POMS (2022).
  • With Yuan Zhen Chen: "Using machine learning algorithms to identify physician–hospital integration based on physician characteristics data." POMS (2022).
  • With Yisu Zong: "Prediction of U.S. hospital closure using machine learning methods." POMS (2022).
  • With Nicolas R. Gomez: "Engine failure forecast model for saving the operating cost: a case of American Airlines." POMS (2022), INFORMS (2021).
  • "Managed care penetration and the productivity spillover on quality." INFORMS Healthcare (2019, 2021), AcademyHealth (2018).
  • "The spillover effects of hospital closures on the efficiency and quality of other hospitals." AcademyHealth (2020), POMS (2019), INFORMS (2017–2019), INFORMS Healthcare (2019), MSOM (2018).
  • "Medicare payment differentials by site, hospital–physician integration trend, and impact on outpatient volume." AcademyHealth (2019).
  • "Changes in screening colonoscopy following Medicare reimbursement and cost-sharing changes." iHEA (2017), AcademyHealth (2016).

Invited talks & guest lectures (2025–2026)

  • Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (2026) — Guest lecturer (two sessions): MBA course on behavioral science, and Global Executive MBA in healthcare leadership. Teaching case on Doogooda authored and taught by Prof. Dilip Soman (Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Science and Economics); joined both cohorts for live Q&A. The case is not publicly distributed — for full-case classroom use, contact me at hello@linasong.com.
  • The Chinese University of Hong Kong (March 2026) — Guest speaker, Co-op Field Trip Program, Seoul.
  • Baekseok University, K-HiTech Platform — AI & Drone Conference (November 2025) — Invited speaker: "Autonomous Flight: Accountability, Safety Standards, and Data Governance."

Honors & grants

  • POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management Best Paper Award, 1st place (2019)
  • AcademyHealth Best Methods Award
  • AHRQ R36 Health Services Research Dissertation Award ($30,437), principal investigator — initial impact score 20 ("outstanding")
  • Harvard University Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2019)
  • Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science Travel Grant (2018, 2019) and Research Grant (2018)
  • Harvard University Graduate Student Council Conference Grant (2017)
  • Finalist, Lee B. Lusted Award for Outstanding Student Research, SMDM (2016)
  • Samsung Lee Kun Hee Scholarship Foundation Fellowship (2012)
  • Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (2008, 2009)

Teaching

  • UCL School of Management — Statistics for Business Research (MSIN0154), core course, MSc Management Science (2021); Scientific Computing Individual Research Project (PHAS0077), MSc supervision (2021–); Management Science Dissertation (MSIN0032), supervised 10 undergraduate dissertations (2020–2021).
  • Harvard Kennedy School — Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics, teaching fellow (2019); Analytic Framework for Policy, teaching fellow (2017); Estimating Program Effectiveness with Empirical Analysis, course assistant (2014).
  • Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health — Health Economics Applications to Global Health Policy, teaching fellow (2017, 2019); Decision Analysis for Health & Medical Practices, teaching fellow (2015, 2017); Decision Analysis in Clinical Research (2015); Methods in Public Health & Medicine (2015).
  • Yale University, Department of Mathematics — The Structure of Networks, teaching assistant (2012).
  • California Institute of Technology — Introductory Methods of Applied Mathematics (graduate), teaching assistant (2008, 2009).

Peer review & editorial service

Journal reviewer: Management Science; Manufacturing & Service Operations Management; Production and Operations Management; Health Care Management Science; Medical Care; PLOS Medicine; Contemporary Clinical Trials; PLOS One; Scientific Reports; Journal of Medical Systems; BMC Emergency Medicine. Conference abstract reviewer: MSOM SIG; AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (incl. 2027 ARM, Boston); SMDM Annual North American Meeting; SMDM Biennial European Conference. MPhil committee: Ramazan Kizilyildirim and Yiyao Zhou (UCL School of Management, 2022).

Other research experience

  • Harvard Public Impact Analytics Science Lab (PIAS-Lab) — graduate student researcher (2016–2020)
  • Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science — affiliated graduate student (2015–2020)
  • Massachusetts General Hospital, Mongan Institute for Health Policy — graduate student researcher (2015–2019)
  • The World Bank, Global HIV/AIDS Program — short-term consultant (2014)
  • Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Management — research associate (2012–2013)
  • Caltech, Materials & Process Simulation Center and Cell Polarity Laboratory — summer undergraduate research fellow (2008, 2009)

Professional affiliations

INFORMS · MSOM · POMS · AcademyHealth · Society for Medical Decision Making (SMDM)

Industry & applied work (summary)

Doogooda (Doogooda Inc., Madison, WI) — Founder & CEO (2021–present). Decision infrastructure for healthcare: productizing cost-effectiveness analysis, causal inference, and decision governance for hospital and physician-group decisions. The methodology has run in live operations at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (London) and, earlier, in national health-policy settings in Korea. doogooda.com

Last updated September 2026.