Mining Data, Modeling Knowledge: AI Methodologies for Health Research
Artificial intelligence is transforming biomedical research on two fronts: extracting knowledge from unstructured data such as literature, clinical notes and images, and integrating heterogeneous structured data into models that support reasoning and discovery. Drawing on experience in biomedical AI research, this talk examines both fronts. First, we discuss how AI systems mine evidence from large volumes of data to support research and clinical decision making. Second, we look at building knowledge graphs that integrate clinical, genetic and phenotypic data to uncover new associations across diseases and conditions. We close by highlighting methodological challenges shared across health domains, and their relevance for AI in oral health research.
Mini Bio
Anastasia Krithara
Dr. Anastasia Krithara is a researcher at the Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications (IIT) of NCSR “Demokritos” and head of the Biomedical and Health Informatics Team (BioHIT) within the Intelligent Information Systems Division. She also serves as IIT’s Education Officer. She holds a BSc in Computer Science from the Athens University of Economics and Business, an MSc in Machine Learning and Data Mining from the University of Bristol, and a PhD in Machine Learning from Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris VI), conducted in collaboration with Xerox Research Centre Europe. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, and knowledge discovery, with applications in biomedical and health informatics. She has played leading roles in European and national research projects, serving as technical coordinator of the H2020 project iASiS and as scientific lead of the NCSR “Demokritos” team in projects such as smartHEALTH and SIMPATHIC. She co-organises the international BioASQ challenge (since 2012) and has served on the board of the Hellenic Artificial Intelligence Society (EETN), including as General Secretary (2019–2020 and 2023–2024). She represents NCSR “Demokritos” in national research infrastructures (ELIXIR-GR, GRECRIN) and is a member of the Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence of the National Commission for Bioethics and Technoethics. She has published extensively in leading journals and conferences in machine learning and biomedical informatics.