The Center for Healthcare Operations Improvement and Research (CHOIR) at the University of Twente announces the 37th talk in the ORAHS International Seminar Series.
The ORAHS International Seminars are planned via MS Teams in the late afternoon (Europe), morning (US), or evening (Asia/Pacific) and are part of the EURO Online Seminar Series.
On 26 May 2026, at 16:00 (CEST), Dr. David Barrera Ferro (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia) will talk about “Improving fairness in machine learning-enabled affirmative actions: a case study in outreach activities in healthcare”.
Please save the date and register for this seminar here:
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ef4c3811-d5c3-40fe-bed1-651204bbcdff@723246a1-c3f5-43c5-acdc-43adb404ac4d
Abstract: Over the last decade, due to the growing availability of data and computational resources, machine learning (ML) approaches have started to play a key role in the implementation of affirmative-action policies and programs. The underlying assumption is that resource allocation can be informed by the prediction of individual risks, improving the prioritization of the potential beneficiaries, and increasing the performance of the system. Therefore, it is important to ensure that biases in the data or the algorithms do not lead to treating some individuals unfavourably. In particular, the notion of group-based fairness seeks to ensure that individuals will not be discriminated against on the basis of their group’s protected characteristics. This work proposes an optimization model to improve fairness in ML-enabled affirmative actions, following a post-processing approach. Our case study is an outreach program to increase cervical cancer screening among hard-to-reach women in Bogotá, Colombia. Bias may occur since the protected group (women in the most severe poverty) is under-represented in the data. Computational experiments show that it is possible to address ML bias while maintaining high levels of accuracy.
Bio: David Barrera Ferro is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. He holds a PhD in Business Studies and Management from the University of Southampton, focusing on healthcare operational research. He is President of the Colombian Association of Operations Research (ASOCIO), co-founder and joint coordinator of the ALIO Healthcare Working Group, and co-director of HOpeR (Healthcare Operational Research), a doctoral training initiative led jointly with ALIO and the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS). His work focuses on service design, resource allocation, and machine learning-based early warning systems in healthcare, with over 15 years of experience collaborating with healthcare organizations in Colombia.
More information about our speaker can be found here:
https://perfilesycapacidades.javeriana.edu.co/en/persons/barrera-o/
For more information about our seminar presentations, please follow this link:
https://www.utwente.nl/en/choir/research/ORAHS-International-Seminar-Series/
We look forward to seeing you soon and often in the ORAHS International Seminar Series.
CHOIR Group
University of Twente