Talk Title:  Outlining the Borders for LLM Applications in Patient Education: Developing an Expert-in-the-Loop LLM-Powered Chatbot for Prostate Cancer Patient Education

Speaker:  Yuexing Hao,IvyPlus Exchange Ph.D. Scholar, MIT ; Final-year Ph.D. candidate, Cornell University

Location: IRB 4105 and Zoom

Abstract:  Navigating the transition from diagnosis to treatment remains a significant challenge for many cancer patients, particularly those with limited health literacy and access to institutional resources. In this talk, I will explore how Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) principles can guide the design of Large Language Model (LLM)-based systems to support patient education in oncology. I will present the iterative development of MedEduChat, a patient-facing agent designed to provide accessible, tailored information about prostate cancer. Grounded in a needs assessment and developed through co-design with patients and clinicians, the system adopts a closed-domain, semi-structured interaction model that integrates with patients’ electronic health records. Usability evaluations highlight the importance of interpretability, control, and personalization in shaping patients’ engagement with LLM agents. This work contributes to the growing area of patient-AI interaction by articulating design guidelines for building transparent, responsive, and trustworthy LLM-based healthcare applications that align with real-world patient needs.

Bio: Yuexing Hao is an IvyPlus Exchange Ph.D. Scholar at MIT and a final-year Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University. She holds Computer Science degrees from Rutgers University (B.A.) and Tufts University (M.S.). Her research focuses on Health Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction, and AI, with an emphasis on data-driven approaches to clinical decision-making and patient-centered technologies. Yuexing has been awarded over $140,000 in competitive funding as a principal investigator during her doctoral studies. This includes the APF K. Anders Ericsson Dissertation Grant, the PCCW Frank H.T. Rhodes Leadership and Mission Grants, 2024 North America Women in Tech Most Disruptive Award (powered by Amazon), and the NCWIT AIC Collegiate Award (Honorable Mention). Her work has been published at CHI, AAAI, Bioinformatics, and the Intelligent Systems Conference. She actively serves the research community as Registration Co-Chair for ACM FAccT and Associate Chair for CSCW and CHI.