O'Reilly-Shah Lab
Perioperative Data Science · Neuroscience · Consciousness
Computational methods for perioperative medicine, clinical informatics systems, and the theoretical neuroscience of consciousness. Connecting rigorous mathematics with patient outcomes.
Research Areas
Three interconnected research programs spanning clinical practice and theory.
Consciousness Science
The State Space Theory of consciousness proposes that consciousness is constituted by hierarchical delay coordinate embedding in recurrent neural networks. The same mathematics explains why anesthesia eliminates awareness.
Learn more →Perioperative Data Science
Machine learning, NLP, and large-scale analytics applied to EHR and intraoperative physiological data. The goal is to identify what drives surgical outcomes and to build systems that improve them.
Learn more →Computational Neuroscience
Testing predictions from the State Space Theory using neural networks, LLMs, and computational simulations of recurrent circuits.
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Vikas N. O'Reilly-Shah, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, University of Washington
I am a pediatric anesthesiologist at Seattle Children's Hospital and Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Washington. I take care of children in the OR, run PPiQSO (our center for perioperative quality and outcomes), and chair the ASA Committee on Informatics. My primary theoretical work is the State Space Theory of consciousness, which grounds conscious experience in the mathematics of recurrent dynamical systems. Outside the main research programs, I have published on the use of emoji in biomedical literature and co-authored a book of bee puns.