Woldegebriel Assefa Woldegerima (known as “Assefa”) is an emerging scholar in AI-integrated mathematical modeling, mathematical biology, theory of physics-informed neural networks for epidemiology modeling. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at York University, Canada, He is the founding director of the Disease-Informed Modelling, Methods & Systems Lab (DIMMS Lab) and also serves as Associate Director of the Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (LIAM).

Dr. Woldegerima’s research lies at the intersection of applied mathematics, biology, and AI-integrated mathematical modeling and theory of ML. His work focuses on developing advanced mathematical frameworks to understand infectious disease dynamics, integrating differential equation models with modern machine learning approaches. In particular, he has contributed to the development of disease-informed neural networks and the theoretical foundations of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) for epidemiological modelling, enabling more accurate prediction and analysis of disease spread. 

As director of the newly established DIMMS Lab, he leads an interdisciplinary research program that combines mathematical modelling, statistical inference, and AI-driven techniques to address complex public health challenges. The lab’s work spans multi-scale disease modelling, spatial epidemiology, within-hots and immunity dynamics, and data-driven forecasting, with applications ranging from emerging infectious diseases to vaccination strategy optimization.  Currently, he is supervising M.SC., Ph.D., and Postdoc trainees, and is teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at York University.

Prior to joining York University, Dr. Woldegerima held research and academic positions in Africa and the United States, including a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pretoria. He earned his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Buea (in collaboration with Lehigh University, USA and AIMS Cameroon), with earlier training in partial differential equations and functional analysis.  Assefa is also alumni of AIMS Cameroon, where his master’s thesis was on “Existence and Uniqueness of Viscosity solutions for Hamilton-Jacobi PDEs».

Through his research and leadership, Dr. Woldegerima continues to advance the integration of mathematics, data science, and AI/ML in understanding and controlling infectious diseases, contributing to both theoretical developments and real-world public health applications.