Kayvan Najarian, PhD

 Najarian Kayvan
Associate Director
UMOR_MIDAS
Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Professor of Emergency Medicine
Section Head, Emergency Medicine, Medical School
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering
[email protected]
Available to mentor
Kayvan Najarian, PhD
Najarian Kayvan
Professor
  • About
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  • Research Overview
  • Recent Publications

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    • About

    Dr. Kayvan Najarian is a Professor in the Gilbert S. Omenn Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics (DCMB) as well as the departments of Emergency Medicine and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He is the Director of the Biomedical and Clinical Informatics Laboratory (BCIL), an Associate Director for the Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation, and an Associate Director for the Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society (MIDAS), serving as the point person for data science collaboration in Biological Sciences and Health Sciences. Dr. Najarian is also the director of a national NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) for Data-Driven Drug Development and Treatment Assessment (DATA) which aims to facilitate industry-wide collaborations on artificial intelligence (AI) methodologies for drug development.

    Dr. Najarian received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of British Columbia, Canada, M.Sc in Biomedical Engineering from Amirkabir University, Iran, and B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University, Iran.

    Dr. Najarian’s research has been continually funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and private companies. Overall, his research has resulted in more than 350 peer reviewed publications and over 40 patents in this field, some of which have been commercialized through industry partners including start-ups and large corporations. He has also written two textbooks in biomedical informatics that are being used at many universities and research institutes.

    Links
    • Najarian Lab

    Center Memberships
    • Center Member
      Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation
    • Center Member
      Caswell Diabetes Institute
    • Center Member
      e-Health and Artificial Intelligence Initiative
    • Center Member
      Weil Institute for Critical Care Research

    Research Overview

    Dr. Najarian's reserach focuses on the design of computational systems using advanced signal/image processing and artificial intelligence for clinical applications, including computer-aided decision support systems and drug design, with the goal of improving patient care and reducing the cost of healthcare. In particular, he focuses on creating decision support systems to manage traumatic brain injuries, respiratory illnesses, cardiac arrest, gastrointestinal diseases, and other critical care states.

    Recent Publications

     See All Publications
    • Journal Article
      LoRA-based methods on Unet for transfer learning in aneurysmal subarachnoid hematoma segmentation
      Minoccheri C, Hodgman M, Ma H, Merchant R, Wittrup E, Williamson C, Najarian K. BMC Medical Imaging, 2026 Dec 1; 26 (1): DOI:10.1186/s12880-025-02116-y
      PMID: 41454218
    • Journal Article
      A Novel, Interpretable Machine Learning Model Predicts Furosemide Dosing after Congenital Cardiac Surgery.
      Ehrmann DE, Hodgman M, Wittrup E, Charpie J, Owens G, Aiyagari R, Najarian K. 2026 Apr 23;
    • Preprint
      A Causal Machine Learning Framework for Treatment Personalization in Clinical Trials: Application to Ulcerative Colitis
      Minoccheri C, Tesic S, Najarian K, Stidham R. 2026 Feb 11; arXiv,
    • Journal Article
      EMBC Special Issue: Modeling Early Oxygenation Trajectory in PARDS from High-Frequency Mechanical Ventilation Signals Using Deep Sequence Architectures
      Liu W, Kohne JG, Wittrup E, Najarian K. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2026 Jan 1; DOI:10.1109/TBME.2026.3700483
    • Journal Article
      The impact of data source on real-world medication adherence and exposure measures: From prescription to sold
      Zheng Y, Farris KB, Coe AB, Dorsch MP, Najarian K, Lester CA. Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy, 2026 Jan 1; 32 (4): 434 - 444. DOI:10.18553/jmcp.2026.32.4.434
      PMID: 41885329
    • Journal Article
      The legacy and future of recurrent neural networks in personalized medicine: A reflection on the 2024 Nobel Physics Prize.
      Wittrup E, Kay A, Rosen J, Chen K-F, Najarian K. Biomed J, 2025 Dec 13; 49 (1): 100933 DOI:10.1016/j.bj.2025.100933
      PMID: PMC12861161
    • Preprint
      Leveraging Language Models for Automated Label Generation in Traumatic Brain Injury Radiology Reports.
      Cai L, Williamson C, Nguyen A, Wittrup E, Najarian K. 2025 Dec 4; DOI:10.21203/rs.3.rs-8051129/v1
      PMID: 41377973
    • Journal Article
      AI post-intervention operational and functional outcomes prediction in ischemic stroke patients using MRIs
      Wittrup E, Reavey-Cantwell J, Pandey AS, Rivet DJ, Najarian K. BMC Medical Imaging, 2025 Dec 1; 25 (1): DOI:10.1186/s12880-025-01864-1
      PMID: 40814085

    Featured News & Stories

         Emily Wittrup
    Department News

    Improving care for patients with brain injuries

    Emily Wittrup defended her dissertation this May, marking a successful end to her PhD journey.
         Matt Hodgman
    Department News

    Improving critical patient care: Matt Hodgman successfully defended dissertation

    Hodgman developed OTTO, a transparent machine learning model that can automate and improve outcomes of titrating diuretics for patients in critical care.
         Joshua Pickard, PhD, thesis committee
    Department News

    Joshua Pickard, Ph.D., developed computational methods and tools for biomarker discovery

    On June 13, 2025, he defended his thesis titled “Observability and higher-order methods for biomarker discovery,” and his mentor was professor Indika Rajapakse.
         DATA Center 2025 spring meeting - Dr Najarian
    Department News

    DATA for drug discovery and treatment assessment: DATA Center 2025 Spring Meeting

    On April 10, 2025, the Center for Data-Driven Drug Development and Treatment Assessment (DATA), an NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC), held its third Spring meeting, in Ann Arbor, MI. Hosted at the University of Michigan (U-M), DATA creates and fosters scientific partnerships between industry, government, and academia, focusing on drug discovery that is based on data and tools such as modeling, AI and machine learning.
         Yufeng Zhang, PhD
    Department News

    Yufeng Zhang, PhD, defended her bioinformatics dissertation thesis on machine learning models

    Zhang's research focuses on developing data-driven identification and prediction systems for real-world medical applications. I am particularly interested in enhancing the generalization and interpretability of machine learning and deep learning models in medicine, as well as exploring innovative methods to improve model accuracy. To address challenges such as the lack of annotated data, limited generalization capabilities, and the need for interpretable models, I have applied several strategies, including privileged information learning, self-supervised learning, and approximate reasoning.
         World map using maize stars to indicate France, China and Korea
    Department News

    Meet DCMB's international visiting students, Summer 2024

    This summer and into the fall, DCMB is hosting three international students for up to six months each. They come from China, France and Korea, eager to learn and expand their education and experience through an extended visit at the University of Michigan (U-M) and DCMB.