Dr. Juan M. Lavista Ferres is the Corporate Vice President and Chief Data Scientist of the AI for Good Lab at Microsoft. Leading a team of dedicated data scientists and researchers in the domains of AI, Machine Learning, and statistical modeling, he partners with domain experts, researchers, and organizations worldwide to create a collaborative ecosystem that drives progress toward addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Juan started the Microsoft AI for Good Lab efforts related to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), and his work was published in top academic Journals, such as Pediatrics. This initial success set the stage for him and the team to widen their focus to a multitude of global challenges such as digital literacy, equity, climate change, disaster response, conservation, health, cybersecurity, and more.
Prior to his current role, Juan’s journey encompassed impactful roles in Microsoft’s Experimentation Platform (EXP) and Bing Data Mining team, as well as co-founding Alerts.com. Drawing from a six-year tenure at the InterAmerican Development Bank, he applied data science to understand poverty reduction and equality in Latin America and the Caribbean. Juan dives in to address global challenges armed with a computer science degree from the Catholic University in Uruguay, a graduate degree in Data Mining and Machine Learning from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in AI on Healthcare from Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. Juan resides in Kirkland, WA, with his wife and three children.