Mathematical Medicine: From Neurosurgery to Oncology to PK Modelling of Chemotherapeutic Drugs

Speaker

Sivabal Sivaloganathan

Sivabal Sivaloganathan received his PhD from Oxford University and was Senior Scholar and Research Fellow at Oxford (1985-88). He then accepted a tenure track position in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Alberta, before joining the University of Waterloo in 1990, where he is currently Chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics. Sivabal Sivaloganathan is also Director of the Centre for Mathematical Medicine at the Fields Institute, a nexus for mathematical and biomedical researchers, which aims to foster and stimulate collaborative research and interaction between the mathematical and biomedical sciences

Abstract

Mathematical Medicine: From Neurosurgery to Oncology to PK Modelling of Chemotherapeutic Drugs

In the last two to three decades, the nascent field of Mathematical Medicine has expanded dramatically, and advances have been made on many fronts. In this talk, we focus on two problems that occur in clinical medicine (one drawn from the field of neurosurgery and the other from oncology). We hope to show how closer synergy and interaction between the Biomedical and Mathematical Sciences, can lead to dramatic advances in clinical medicine. The unifying aim of mathematical modelling and experimental studies in the biomedical sciences is the elucidation of the underlying biological mechanisms and processes that lead to particular observed phenomena (eg brain tissue compression in hydrocephalus, brain tumours etc.) It is (of course) clear that mathematical descriptions of biological phenomena are not biological explanations. Apart from its explanatory power, the true test of any mathematical description or theory is in its predictions.

Date

Friday, April 5, 2019

Time

3 p.m.

Location

LH 2062 (Lazaridis Hall)