Jianhong Wu

Dr. Jianhong Wu is a Professor of Applied Mathematics and the founding Director of the Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics at York University. He has been a senior Canada Research Chair in Industrial and Applied Mathematics since 2001, and is currently also the NSERC/Sanofi Industrial Research Chair in Vaccine Mathematics, Modelling and Manufacturing.

Dr. Wu’s scientific leadership positions also include founding Director of the renowned Center for Disease Modelling, founding director of the Fields-CQAM Mathematics for Public Health Lab, founding Scientific Director of Ontario’s Advanced Disaster, Emergency and Rapid Response Simulation, International Research Chair funded by the International Development Research Center, founding Director of the Canada-China Joint Centre of Excellence for Infectious Disease Modeling and Informatics, and leader of two national research projects at two networks of centers of excellence, MITACS and Geomatics for Informed Decisions.

Professor Wu’s contribution in fundamental research and applications of mathematics is extraordinary. He has over 400 publications, eight monographs and numerous policy consultation reports for government public health policies. He is a pioneer of the description of the Krisztin-Walther-Wu spindle attractor, co-invented PART, a widely applied machine learning algorithm for big data clustering and pattern recognition, and ranks #1 globally in the area of diseases/models/epidemics. He has delivered numerous keynote and distinguished lectures and received fellowships and visiting professorships from well-known institutions in Germany, Hungary, Brazil, China, and France. He has also been awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the University of Szeged.

In recognition of his very significant contributions and leadership in a wide range of areas of applied mathematics, he was awarded the life-time title of University Distinguished Research Professor, the highest honor for a faculty member of the university, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Professor Wu’s work has been featured at several events on Parliament Hill. He was named one of the “Innovators to Know” by Universities Canada, selected by Toronto Life magazine as one of the “Top 18 Scientists in Toronto,” and identified by the Toronto Star as one of the “star researchers [who] could have gone anywhere in the world, but chose to work in Canada.”