PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Denis Parra

Also known as Denis Alejandro Parra Santander

Denis Parra is a computer science researcher whose work connects recommender systems and intelligent user interfaces with medical AI; as of October 2026, he is an associate professor at PUC Chile and a principal researcher at iHEALTH, with research roles at CENIA and IMFD. He earned a Civil Engineer in Informatics title from UACh in 2004 and pursued a PhD in Information Science at Pittsburgh from 2008 to 2013. In 2011, he won UMAP's James Chen Best Student Paper Award; at PUC Chile, he became an assistant professor in 2013 and worked on recommendation systems including SetFusion and Moodplay. His interface research earned ACM IUI awards in 2018 and 2019, and he helped organize Latin America's first Human-Centered AI in Visualization school in 2023. He chaired ACM IUI and presented sequential recommendation work at ICML in 2024, coauthored a mammography-reporting framework in 2025, and led a team developing chest-X-ray AI tools in 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2004

    An informatics degree

    In 2004, he earns a professional title as a Civil Engineer in Informatics at UACh in Valdivia, Chile.

  2. 2008–2013

    A Pittsburgh PhD and UMAP award

    He pursues a PhD in Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh from 2008 to 2013 under Peter Brusilovsky. In 2011, he receives one of UMAP's James Chen Best Student Paper Awards for “Walk the Talk,” a study on implicit and explicit feedback for preference elicitation.

  3. 2013–2016

    SetFusion and Moodplay

    In 2013, he begins as an assistant professor in PUC Chile's Department of Computer Science. His 2015 paper with Peter Brusilovsky studies user-controllable personalization through SetFusion. In 2016, he coauthors a UMAP paper on Moodplay, a music artist recommender based on emotions; a study with more than 300 users reports high satisfaction.

  4. 2018–2019

    Two IUI paper awards

    In 2018, his EpistAid paper with Ivania Donoso earns ACM IUI's Best Paper Honorable Mention for an interactive interface for clinical evidence search. In 2019, his work on explainability for image-based recommendation receives an outstanding research award at ACM IUI.

  5. 2023

    A Latin American AI school

    In January 2023, he helps co-organize Latin America's first summer school on Human-Centered AI in Visualization with MIT in Santiago, Chile.

  6. 2024

    Chairing ACM IUI

    In 2024, he serves as program chair of the ACM IUI conference and presents a paper on reinforcement learning for sequential recommendation at ICML.

  7. 2025

    Medical AI for radiology

    In 2025, he coauthors a framework for automated mammography report generation and leads an iHEALTH workshop where participants compare language models for radiology reports.

  8. As of October 2026

    Research roles in Chile

    He is an associate professor in PUC Chile's Department of Computer Science, principal researcher at iHEALTH, associate researcher at CENIA, and adjunct researcher at IMFD. His research covers recommender systems, intelligent user interfaces, and medical AI; in February 2026, he leads a multidisciplinary team developing AI tools for chest X-rays.

Career

  1. Since 2013Pontifical Catholic University of ChileAssistant professor
  2. NowMillennium Institute for Intelligent Healthcare Engineering (iHEALTH)Principal researcher
  3. NowNational Center for Artificial IntelligenceAssociate researcher
  4. NowMillennium Institute for Foundational Research on DataAdjunct researcher

Education

  1. 2013University of PittsburghPhD in Information Science
  2. 2004Austral University of ChileCivil Engineer in Informatics

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes National Center for Artificial Intelligence. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Pittsburgh. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Pittsburgh. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Denis Parra yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Denis Parra dparra.ing.uc.cl. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. DINS Alumni in Academia: Denis Parra Santander '13 sci.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. User Modeling - James Chen Best Student Paper Awards um.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Denis Alejandro Parra Santander | Ingeniería UC ing.uc.cl. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Denis Parra at PUC Chile - News dparra.ing.uc.cl. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Ingenieros crean aplicación que recomienda canciones según 250 estados de ánimo uc.cl. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Académicos obtienen reconocimiento en conferencia IUI 2018 ing.uc.cl. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. iHEALTH lidera discusiones sobre IA en el Congreso Chileno de Radiología 2025 i-health.cl. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. IA chilena analiza radiografías de tórax para apoyar el diagnóstico médico cenia.cl. Checked 21 October 2026.