CURRICULUM VITAE
​Yuval Bitan, Ph.D. 

Yuval Bitan (Ph.D.) is a human factors engineer and research scientist that studies cognitive systems engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His research is focused on the cognitive strategies human operators apply to handle incomplete and  conflicting interaction with information, and their impact on decision making. Implementing the knowledge acquired in this research into the design of systems and processes throughout the healthcare system will make them easier and more efficient to operate and will improve patient safety.
Dr. Bitan was an Assistant Professor (status only) at the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto, a Research Associate at the Cognitive Technologies Laboratory (University of Chicago, Illinois) and at HumanEra (University Health Network, Toronto, Canada). He holds a Ph.D. in Human Factors Engineering from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel, where he is a faculty member at the Department of Health Policy and Management, and serves as the director of SimReC, the research center for simulation in healthcare. 

Education
 
1993     Ben-Gurion University of the Negev             Be'er-Sheva, Israel
 B.Sc. Industrial Engineering and Management
(Information Systems)
Final Project: Master Plan for Information System in Publishing house.
Advisor: Dr. Ran Giladi.

​1996     Ben-Gurion University of the Negev             Be'er-Sheva, Israel
M.Sc. Business and Management

2003     Ben-Gurion University of the Negev             Be'er-Sheva, Israel
 Ph.D. Industrial Engineering and Management
(Human Performance/Human Factors Engineering)
 
Ph.D. Thesis: Scheduling of Activities and Responding to Alarms in the Control of a Complex System.
Advisors:  Prof. David Shinar, Prof. Ehud Zmora, and Prof. Joachim Meyer.
Developed and tested a conceptual model that describes operators’ work in complex environments. As test case for the model served the work of nurses in a neonate intensive care unit.
 
Dissertation title: Scheduling of Activities and Responding to Alarms in the Control of a Complex System.

Employment History
2020–present  Ben-Gurion University of the Negev             Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Senior Lecturer, Department of Health Policy and Management 

2015–2020      Ben-Gurion University of the Negev             Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Senior Lecturer, Department of Industrial Engineering & Management

2003–2015    70-Trees                                            Tel-Aviv, Israel / Chicago, IL, USA
Independent Management Consultant

2000–2003      Babylon.com                                                                 Or-Yehuda, Israel
Vice President of Operations

1998–2000      Sivan Training and Systems LTD.                      Tel-Aviv, Israel
Chief Technology Officer and Business Development

1996–1998      Mentortech Inc. (Mashov)      Or-Yehuda, Israel/New-York, NY, USA
Vice President of Development and Operations

1993–1996      Bitan United Multimedia LTD.                           Tel-Aviv, Israel
Co-Founder and General Manager

​1991–1993      Ofek Technology Consulting LTD.                    Nes-Ziona, Israel
Human Factors Engineer 

Research Positions 
2016- 2022        University of Toronto                                                 Toronto, ON, Canada
Assistant Professor (status only),
Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

​2015                     University of Toronto                                                  Toronto, ON, Canada
Post Doctoral Fellow – Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

2013–2015      University Health Network                                      Toronto, ON, Canada
Research Associate – HumanEra

2004–2006      University of Chicago                                                    Chicago, IL, USA
Research Associate – Cognitive Technologies Laboratory

1998–2001      Ben-Gurion University of the Negev                    Be'er-Sheva, Israel
Coordinator of Laboratory and Field Research

​1990–1993      Ben-Gurion University of the Negev                    Be'er-Sheva, Israel
​Research and Teaching Assistant

Courses Taught
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev  Be'er-Sheva, Israel

2012–present     Department of Health Policy and Management     
Implementing Human Factors in the Healthcare, MHA

2015–2020           Department of Industrial Engineering and Management  
Introduction to Decision Making, B. Sc.

2015–2019          Department of Industrial Engineering and Management  
Human Computer Interaction, B. Sc.

2018–2021     Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
                                      in collaboration with McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Technology Business Plan Project, B. Sc.

2020–present     Department of Health Policy and Management  
Decision Making in Healthcare Systems, B. A.

2021–present     Department of Health Policy and Management  
Decision Making in Complex Healthcare Systems, MHA
​​
Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College Tel-Aviv, Israel
2013                       Department of Information Systems Management
Man-Machine Interface, B.A.

​PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
​2022- present     Head of the research committee – School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

2022- present     Head of the library committee – Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

2022- present     Member of the communication committee – School of Cognitive Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

2021- present     Director of SimReC - The research center for simulation in healthcare at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. 

2020-present      Member of the research committee at the Israeli national paramedic service (EMS) (Magen-David-Adom).

2019- 2021          HFES Health Care Technical Group, awards co-chair.

2019-2021           Member of the IEA2021 scientific committee. 

2014-2020         Member of the International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care program committee.

2007-2008         Member of the committee for alarms in healthcare at the Standards Institution of Israel.