Lina Song, PhD

Research interests

Healthcare operations, decision science, causal inference, cost-effectiveness analysis, and public-sector operations management.

Academic positions

• Seoul National University, Cognitive AI Lab — Visiting Researcher (2026–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 — PhD in Health Policy / Decision Science (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. Saghafian, Soroush, Lina D. Song, Joseph P. Newhouse, Mary Beth Landrum, and John Hsu. "The impact of vertical integration on physician behavior and healthcare delivery: evidence from gastroenterology practices." Management Science 69(12), 2023. Commentary published alongside: Shah, E. D., Management Science 69(12), 2023. AHRQ R36 Health Services Research Dissertation Grant · POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management Best Paper Award, 1st place.
2. Saghafian, Soroush, Lina D. Song, and Ali S. Raja. "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., 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).
4. Ho, Ra, Lina D. Song, Jin A. Choi, and Donghyun Jee. "The cost-effectiveness of systematic screening for age-related macular degeneration in South Korea." PLoS One (2018). Author details follow the published correction.
5. Choi JA, Song LD, Choi S, Park SM, Kwon JW, Jee D. "The cost-effectiveness of medication, laser trabeculoplasty, and trabeculectomy for treatment of open-angle glaucoma in South Korea." Medicine (2019).
6. 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.
7. 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.

Other publications

• Song, Lina D. and Zack Peterson. "Doing good with good OR: lessons learned from 1000 Days Fund." INFORMS OR/MS Today (2022). Magazine article.

Unpublished manuscripts

• Song, Lina D. and Soroush Saghafian. "The spillover effects of hospital closures on the efficiency and quality of other hospitals." Unpublished manuscript.
• Song, Lina D. and Soroush Saghafian. "The allocation of funds in healthcare: which hospital to support?" Unpublished manuscript.

Conference presentations

INFORMS, MSOM, POMS, INFORMS Healthcare, AcademyHealth, iHEA, SMDM and IFORS (2016–2026), most recently AcademyHealth ARM 2026 (Seattle) on claims-based simulation of COVID payment policies and on algorithmic health advertising in South Korea.

Invited talks & guest lectures (2025–2026)

• Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (2026) — Guest lecturer, MBA (behavioral science) and Global Executive MBA (healthcare leadership); teaching case on Doogooda by Prof. Dilip Soman.
• 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, principal investigator
• Harvard University Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2019)
• Finalist, Lee B. Lusted Award for Outstanding Student Research, SMDM (2016)
• Samsung Lee Kun Hee Scholarship Foundation Fellowship (2012)

Teaching

• UCL School of Management — Statistics for Business Research (MSc core), MSc research-project supervision, and undergraduate dissertation supervision (2020–2021).
• Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health — teaching fellow: machine learning and big-data analytics, analytic frameworks for policy, health economics, and decision analysis (2014–2019).

Peer review & editorial service

Reviewer for Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Health Care Management Science, Medical Care, PLOS Medicine and others; conference reviewer for MSOM SIG, AcademyHealth ARM and SMDM.

Other research experience

• Harvard Public Impact Analytics Science Lab (PIAS-Lab) — graduate student researcher (2016–2020)
• 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)

Professional affiliations

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

Industry & applied work (summary)

Doogooda Inc. (Madison, WI) — Founder & CEO. Research-grounded software for healthcare operating decisions: comparing alternatives, reviewing defined changes, and revisiting decisions as evidence changes. Earlier applied work included a government-funded UCL research collaboration with Moorfields Eye Hospital (London) and health-policy analysis in Korea. doogooda.com