Juan M. Lavista Ferres
Juan M. Lavista Ferres is a data scientist, AI expert, and researcher. He is currently the Corporate Vice President and Chief Data Scientist of the AI for Good Lab at Microsoft.
In this capacity, Juan leverages technologies like AI, machine learning, and statistical modelling to support Microsoft's AI for Good initiatives, including:
AI For Earth - SustainabilityAI for Humanitarian ActionAI For AccessibilityAI For Health
In his latest book, AI for Good: Applications in Sustainability, Juan highlights how artificial intelligence and advanced data science can be utilised to address pressing global challenges in fields such as sustainability, humanitarian action, and health.
As a data scientist and researcher, Juan has been involved in projects like Microsoft Experimentation Platform (EXP) and Bing Data Mining.
His research on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has been published in international academic journals like Pediatrics and covered by major media outlets such as the Geekwire, BBC, NPR, Fast Company, Fortune Magazine, New York Times, CNN, USA Today, and more, totalling over 100 global news platforms.
Juan is also the Editor of the Microsoft Journal of Applied Research (MSJAR). Before his tenure at Microsoft, Juan had co-founded alerts.com.
As a leader, Juan has been applying technology for social good. For instance while being at InterAmerican Development Bank in Washington, where he applied data science to evaluate the impact of programs aimed at reducing poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Juan is a PhD in AI in Healthcare from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, MSc in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University, and engineering and BA in Information Systems from Universidad Católica del Uruguay 'Dámaso Antonio Larranaga'?.
As a speaker, Juan has presented at events such as Strata, IEEE, TedX, Cornell University, and UC Berkeley in the US, and globally in the US, Canada, Switzerland, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Africa, and Uruguay, among other countries.
