Hwa-Shen Tan

Mathematics, The University of Texas at Austin     

Hwa-Shen Tan is from Katy, Texas, and earned bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Austin. He then earned a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania, with a focus on data science and machine learning. His graduate work included projects on detection of imaging features and population health analysis. During his undergraduate years, he also conducted research in pathology and biomaterials engineering. At the University of Sydney Medical School, he studied alterations in EZH2 markers in T cell lymphoma using IHC, FISH, and ddPCR. At the Natural Fiber Lab at the University of North Texas, he examined how treated natural fiber composites might serve as scaffolding biomaterials. He was a semifinalist in the Siemens Competition for his work.

After graduation, Hwa-Shen entered industry and built depth in software and data science. At Capital One, he worked as a software engineer on credit card technology. He designed backend systems, pipelines for data and cloud infrastructure, and earned his AWS Solutions Architect certification while mentoring junior engineers through the full software development cycle. Next, he joined Terracotta Group, a private equity credit group focused on real estate. There, he worked to develop computational and statistical methods for large geospatial and commercial real estate datasets, including classification models, custom geometry algorithms, and clustering approaches.

Hwa-Shen chose the EnMed program because his goal is to directly identify clinical needs by caring for his own patients and then build technology to address those needs. With his foundation in software and analysis, he sought a program that would provide biodesign training and prototyping experience, as well as proximity to clinical work, that a traditional MD program does not offer. He hopes to alternate throughout his career between clinic and research, using patient data and bedside observations to identify problems in the innovation space and then engineer practical solutions. He is particularly interested in diagnostic algorithms, medical imaging, and clinical software platforms.

Outside his career and academic pursuits, Hwa-Shen enjoys bodybuilding, and you can usually find him at the gym working through a training block. He also enjoys playing the piano and picks up new pieces when he needs to step away from screens for a bit.