Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center (PTC) Announces Gian-Gabriel Garcia, Ph.D., as New Pillar 1-Co Lead

The Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center at Georgia Tech (PTC) is excited to announce that Gian-Gabriel Garcia will serve as its Pillar 1 Co-Lead. Pillar 1 focuses on data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. In his new role, Garcia’s responsibilities will include setting the pillar’s strategy and vision, selecting and managing projects, overseeing various pillar activities, and working collaboratively across research groups and institutions. He will also identify cutting-edge technology and engineering solutions to implement priority projects while balancing the pragmatism and feasibility of these approaches.

The PTC brings clinical experts together with Georgia Tech scientists and engineers to develop technological solutions to problems in the health and care of children. The Center provides extraordinary opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in pediatrics, creating breakthrough discoveries that often can only be found at the intersection of multiple disciplines. 

Garcia will work under the leadership of PTC Co-Directors Dr. Stanislav Emelianov (Georgia Tech) and Dr. Wilbur Lam (Children’s) of Georgia Tech’s Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Dr. Naveen Muthu of Children’s Physician Group will be Garcia’s counterpart in leading Pillar 1. 

Since 2021, Garcia has served as an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. His research group has published numerous journal and conference papers, and book chapters related to data-driven machine learning and optimization in healthcare, including various applications in diagnosis and disease management of concussion, opioids, cardiovascular disease, glaucoma, and maternal health. He has received federal funding as a primary investigator from both the National Institutes for Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He and his research group have received several national and international recognitions for their work. 

Garcia also teaches graduate-level courses in machine learning and optimization for healthcare. He received his Ph.D. in industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan and was a postdoctoral fellow at the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment.