October 20 , 2006 -- 4:00 p.m. at the Fields Institute
(there is no audio available for this talk)
J.D. Murray FRS,
Membre de l'Insitut de France (Foreign Member, Acad. Sci.)
Emeritus Professor, University of Oxford
Emeritus Professor, University of Washington

On the Virtues of Simple Models in the Biomedical Sciences.
The siren song of elegant mathematical analysis often distracts
mathematicians from the most important reason for working in the
application of mathematical models to the biomedical sciences, namely
to further our understanding of real biomedical problems. I shall
describe, with minimal mathematical detail, examples ranging from
brain tumour growth and control to divorce prediction which show how
very simple models can often provide significant insight into real
problems in medicine and psychology. In the case of brain tumours I
shall show, for example, how the models can enhance imaging,
highlight problems with current medical treatments and help design
individual patient treatment regimens. With marital interaction
modelling I shall show how to quantify a couple’s 15 minute
discussion and then use it to predict marriage stability and divorce.
We achieved a 94% accuracy based on a longitudinal study of a large
number of newlywed couples.

WWW: http://www.amath.washington.edu/~murrayjd/