Vishnu Prabhu, Ph.D.
Office:
Vishnu Prabhu is an assistant professor at the School of Modeling and Simulation Training at the University of Central Florida. His primary research interest is data-driven decision-making in healthcare, health systems modeling and deploying Internet of Things (IoT) solutions in healthcare to improve patient, clinician, and system outcomes. His research methods use simulation and other stochastic modeling to address various public health challenges, including Emergency Department Crowding and Healthcare-Acquired Infections.
He is also passionate about utilizing eXtended Reality (AR, VR, etc.), wearables, biosensors, digital health tools, and non-pharmacological techniques to address pain, anxiety, and mental health issues and has conducted multiple clinical trials. Before joining UCF, he was an assistant professor at UNC Charlotte. Prior to that, he was a graduate research intern at Stanford Health Care, PRISMA Health, and Clemson University where he was involved in academic and applied research during his doctoral studies.
Education
- Ph.D., Industrial Engineering, Clemson University
- M.S., Industrial Engineering, Clemson University
- B.Tech., Mechanical Production Engineering, University of Kerala
Appointments
- Assistant Professor, School of Modeling, Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando
Courses
- IDS 6145 – Simulation Techniques
Highlights
- Marston, H. R., Prabhu, V. G., Ivan, L. (2025). Understanding Technology Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic Through the Lens of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities: An International, Multi-Centre Study. In COVID.
- Ivan, L., Marston, H. R., Prabhu, V. G., Großschädl, F., Silva, P. A., Buttigieg, S. C., Çalıkoğlu,H. Ö., Bilir-Koca, B., Arslan, H., Kanozia, R., Browning, M. H., Freeman, S., & Earle, S. (2024). Successful Aging across Middle vs High-Income Countries: An Analysis of the Role of eHealth Literacy Associated with Loneliness and Wellbeing. In The Gerontologist.
- P., & Prabhu, V. G. Integrating Quality 4.0 in a traditional continuous improvement system (2024). In the ASQ Quality Progress magazine.
- Prabhu, V. G., Taaffe, K.M. (2024). Hybrid Modelling Approach Using Reinforcement Learning in Conjunction with Simulation: A Case Study of an Emergency Department. In: Fakhimi, M., Mustafee, N. (eds) Hybrid Modeling and Simulation. Simulation Foundations, Methods and Applications. Springer, Cham.
- Prabhu, V. G., Harper, S., Brignull, C. G., Snider, B., Tanner, S., Adams, K. J., Nisonson, A., Hand, W., Epling, J. A. (2023). The Impact of Virtual Reality on Pain and Anxiety during Ultrasound Guided Breast Biopsies: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial. Journal of Breast Imaging.
- Prabhu, V. G., Stanley, L., Morgan, R., & Shirley, B. (2023) Designing and Developing a Nature-based Virtual Reality with Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback for Surgical Anxiety and Pain Management: Evidence from Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients. In Aging & Mental Health.
- Prabhu, V. G., Hand, W., Isik, T., Song, Y., & Taaffe, K. (2023). Risk-adjusted Staffing Policies to Minimize Perioperative Staffing Shortages During a Pandemic: An Agent-Based Simulation Study. In Epidemiology and Infection.
- Prabhu, V. G., Pirrallo, R., Taaffe, K., Jackson, W., Ramsay, M. Forecasting Patient Arrivals and Optimizing Physician Shift Scheduling in Emergency Departments. (2023). In the proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference.
- Kalatzis, A., Prabhu, V. G., Stanley, L & Wittie, M.P. Effect of Augmented Reality User Interface on Task Performance, Cognitive Load, and Situational Awareness in Human-Robot Collaboration (2023). In the Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).
- Foster, S., Hegde, S., Pirrallo, R., Prabhu, V.G., Taaffe, K., Ramsay, M., & Jackson, B. (2023). Evaluating Physician Stress During Patient Handoffs: Analysis of Physician Heart Rate Variability, Patient Handoff Characteristics, and ED Metrics. In the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
- Kalatzis, A., Rahman, S., Prabhu, V. G., Stanley, L & Wittie, M. (2023). A Multimodal Approach to Investigate the Role of Cognitive Workload and User Interfaces in Human-Robot Collaboration. In the proceedings of the International Conference on Multimodal Interaction.
- Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant of the Year, Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Clemson University
- Teaching Assistant of the Year Award, Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Clemson University
- Best Graduate Student Leader Award, Department of Emergency Medicine, PRISMA Health
- Co-Investigator, R21: Redesigning Emergency Department Clinician Shift Scheduling to Improve Well-being and Patient Outcomes (ED-SHIFT). NIOSH, CDC.
- Principal Investigator, Improving Patient Access and Patient Experience. Stanford Medicine Health Care, CA.
- Co-Founder, An Artificial Intelligence-Inspired Computing Application for Detecting the Early Onset of Pneumonia (COVID-19). National Science Foundation. Montana BioScience Alliance.
- Co-Founder, SBIR Phase I: An Artificial Intelligence-Inspired Computing Application for Detecting the Early Onset of Pneumonia (COVID-19). National Science Foundation.
Research Interests:
Health Systems Modeling
Stochastic Modeling
Data Analytics Applications in Healthcare
eXtended Reality (XR) Applications
Human Behavior Modeling
Biosensing