Overview
Dr. Mauricio Santillana is Professor of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University, where he directs the Machine Intelligence Group for the Betterment of Health and the Environment (MIGHTE) at the Network Science Institute. He also holds an Adjunct Professor position in Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and courtesy appointments as Professor of Computer Science at Northeastern’s Khoury College and Professor of Health Sciences at the Bouvé College of Health Sciences.
As a physicist and applied mathematician, Dr. Santillana specializes in scientific computing, mathematical modeling, and machine learning approaches for analyzing complex systems through big data. His groundbreaking work focuses on developing machine learning systems to monitor and forecast infectious disease outbreaks globally using novel data sources including internet searches, social media, and human mobility patterns. He creates predictive models to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs in critical care medicine, while also researching antibiotic resistance patterns using climate variables. Additionally, his expertise extends to modeling atmospheric chemistry, coastal flooding due to hurricanes, and population growth patterns.
Dr. Santillana earned his PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin (2008), following an MS in the same field (2003) and a B.S. in Physics with highest honors from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (2001). His postdoctoral training includes fellowships at Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (2008-2010) and Harvard Medical School’s Computational Health Informatics Program (2014-2016). Prior to joining Northeastern in 2022, Dr. Santillana served as a tenure-track faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, where he directed the Machine Intelligence Lab. He also received two Harvard University Teaching Excellence “Bok” Awards (2012, 2014) during his time as a lecturer in applied mathematics at Harvard
Dr. Santillana’s research has been published in over 100 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, Science Advances, and Nature Communications. His work has attracted over $27 million in competitive funding from institutions including the CDC, NIH, NSF, and various foundations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Johnson and Johnson Foundation. Dr. Santillana has been consistently recognized among the “World’s Top 2%” scientists by Stanford University (2020-2024) and, as one of the principal investigators of the CHIP 50 (Civic Health and Institutions) project, was awarded the 2025 Mitofsky Innovators Award by the American Association for Public Opinion Research for his collaborative work on COVID-19 surveillance.
Dr. Santillana currently serves as Co-PI for the CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics’ “Epistorm” project, a $17.5 million initiative developing advanced epidemic analytics and predictive modeling technology. He has advised the US CDC, Africa CDC, and the White House on developing population-wide disease forecasting tools, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. His research has been featured in major media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox, and BBC, establishing him as a leading voice in computational epidemiology and public health informatics.
