PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Heang-Ping Chan

Also known as Heang‐Ping Chan

Heang-Ping Chan is a medical physicist at the University of Michigan whose AI research spans computer-aided diagnosis for medical imaging and clinical language models. She earned a PhD in medical physics at the University of Chicago in 1981, began digital image processing research in 1983 and computer-aided diagnosis research in 1985, and established the University of Michigan's CAD-AI Laboratory in 1989. By 2004, her work included CAD systems for breast cancer, lung cancer and pulmonary embolism, and she became a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. With Lubomir Hadjiiski and Ravi Samala, she coauthored a 2020 review in Medical Physics on deep learning in computer-aided diagnosis, followed in November 2025 by a Scientific Reports study on large language models for bladder-cancer survival prediction, and as of October 2026 she holds Active Emeritus status and the Paul L. Carson Collegiate Professor title in the CAD-AI Laboratory.

Timeline

  1. 1981

    A medical physics doctorate

    She earns a PhD in medical physics at the University of Chicago in 1981.

  2. 1983–1985

    Digital image processing and CAD

    She begins research in digital image processing in 1983 and computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) in 1985.

  3. 1989

    Founding the CAD-AI Laboratory

    In 1989, she establishes the Computer Aided Diagnosis-Artificial Intelligence (CAD-AI) Laboratory in the University of Michigan Department of Radiology, where the group develops machine learning and AI methods for clinical decision support.

  4. 2004

    An AAPM fellowship and CAD systems

    She becomes a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in 2004. Her work includes stereomammography and CAD systems for breast cancer detection in mammography, ultrasonography and digital tomosynthesis, as well as CAD systems for lung cancer and pulmonary embolism.

  5. 2020

    Deep learning in computer-aided diagnosis

    In 2020, she coauthors the review Computer-Aided Diagnosis in the Era of Deep Learning in Medical Physics with Lubomir Hadjiiski and Ravi Samala, examining how machine learning methods analyze patient data to assist clinicians in decision-making.

  6. November 2025

    Language models for bladder-cancer prognosis

    In November 2025, she coauthors a Scientific Reports study evaluating large language models including Dolly, Vicuna, Llama and GPT-4 for clinical data extraction in bladder-cancer survival prediction.

  7. As of October 2026

    Active emerita in CAD-AI

    As of October 2026, she holds Active Emeritus status and the Paul L. Carson Collegiate Professor title in the CAD-AI Laboratory at the University of Michigan.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of MichiganPaul L. Carson Collegiate Professor; Active Emeritus
  2. From 1989Department of Radiology, University of MichiganFounder

Education

  1. 1981University of ChicagoPhD in medical physics

From the biography.

  1. Universities had a net outflow of 2,068 moves in AI careersIncludes University of Michigan. Our estimates of career flows and median h-index across universities and companies in AI, including the role of joint appointments and earlier academic jobs.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Michigan. 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.
  3. Universities keep AI researchers for a median of 6 years, compared with 2 years at frontier labsIncludes University of Michigan. Across 15,811 dated work stays (6,529 people), median role tenure runs from 6 years at universities to 2 years at frontier labs. We compare all five organization types, starting decades from the 1970s to the 2020s, and the organizations that keep people longest.
  4. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Michigan. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.

Sources and credits

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  1. American Association of Physicists in Medicine Awards Ceremony aapm.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. CAD-AI Lab cad-ai.med.umich.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. AAPM History and Heritage - Fellows aapm.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Computer-Aided Diagnosis in the Era of Deep Learning - PMC pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Evaluating the reliability of large language models for clinical data extraction in bladder cancer prognosis nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. CAD-AI Lab - People cad-ai.med.umich.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.