Youngro Lee

Seoul National University, Republic of Korea· youngro12@snu.ac.kr

Basic Info

Youngro Lee is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, supervised by Prof. Jongmo Seo (M.D., Ph.D.) and co-supervised by Prof. Barbara Di Camillo from the University of Padova. He specializes in analyzing medical tabular data using statistics, machine learning, and Explainable AI, collaborating with experts across diverse medical fields, including Pediatrics, Cardiology, Microbiology, Dentistry, Ophthalmology, and Nephrology. He also led a project to investigate the validity of machine learning-based interpretations.

Strengths

-proactive creativity
-teamwork trained by multidisciplinary experiences
-adaptability trained by wide range of experiences
-international communication

Education

Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

Ph.D Course in Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Advisor: Professor Jongmo Seo

Electrical and Computer Engineering

September 2020 ~

University of Padova, Italy

Visiting Ph.D Student

Advisor: Professor Barbara Di Camillo

Information Engineering

September 2021 - February 2022

Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

Master of Engineering

Advisor: Professor Jongmo Seo

Electrical and Computer Engineering

March 2019 - August 2020

Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

Bachelor of Engineering

Advisor: Professor Sungroh Yoon

Electrical and Computer Engineering

March 2019 - August 2020

Experiences

Seoul National University Hospital, Korea

Researcher

Lead researcher in the project "Feasibility of watch-based blood pressure measurement"

March 2021 ~

University of Padova, Italy

Visiting Scholar

Biomarker discovery research in microbiome-Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) with Systems Biology and Bioinformatics Group in the university of Padova

September 2021 ~ February 2022

Seoul National University Debating Association

President, Debater, Adjudicator, Convenor

Parliamentary English Debating activity with various topics in social issues, international studies, economics etc

Participated in multiple competitions (domestic to international) as a debater/adjudicator

Lead international competitions with more than 100 participants as Convener/Deputy Chief Adjudicator

March 2013 ~ August 2015

Projects

Feasibility of smart watch-based blood pressure estimation

Collaboration: Prof. Haeyoung Lee, Department of Cardiology, Seoul National University Hospital

Collaboration: Prof. Jongae Park, Samsung Electronics

Watch-based blood pressure (BP) estimation holds great potential due to its convenience and low cost but faces challenges in accuracy and validation. Through annual campaigns organized by the Korean Hypertension Society, a large dataset of BP values measured by Galaxy Watch has been collected. As a lead researcher, Lee has contributed to the following tasks: 1) Analyzing statistical patterns within the data, 2) Designing a validity index applicable to watch-based BP monitoring and identifying factors affecting stability, and 3)Developing a post-processing method to enhance accuracy efficiently.

2020 - 2025

AI assisted influenza like illness diagnostic system

Collaboration: Prof. Yun-Kyung Kim, Pediatric School of Korea University

Influenza-like illnesses pose significant public health challenges, resulting in substantial economic and societal impacts. To address these issues, a machine learning-based decision-support system was developed as a preliminary assessment tool for parents and doctors. Lee played a key role in this project by developing the optimal machine learning model and validating its results using interpretability methods. Additionally, he contributed to building a macro system for real-time data collection and prediction in a hospital setting.

2021 - 2025

Machine learning approach for biomarker discovery in microbial dataset

Collaboration: Prof. Barbara Di Camillo, Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Italy

Leveraging microbial data for disease biomarker identification, particularly in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), introduces the challenge of dimensionality due to the vast range of phenotypes and limited sample sizes. To extract essential information from microbial data, two distinctive approaches have been studied: 1) Applying Bray-Curtis similarity-based mapping transformation for feature selection, and 2) Using SHAP-based feature binarization to compress the abundance metrics of each taxonomy. Both approaches have proven effective in achieving more stable biomarker selection while maintaining or even improving the performance of the machine learning model.

2020 - 2025

Investigation on the validity of Explainable AI

Collaboration: Prof. Barbara Di Camillo, Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova, Italy

Feature importance is widely used in various application fields to define risk indicators or biomarkers for specific targets. However, its validity is often evaluated solely based on the performance of machine learning models at the application level, which can be limiting. Two distinctive studies have been conducted on this topic: 1) Analyzing the relationship between model performance and the validity of feature importance, and 2) Developing a Python library that summarizes statistical analyses of SHAP values, emphasizing statistically valid results.

2021 - 2025

Publication

Journal

Published

Youngro Lee, Marco Cappellato, Barbara Di Camillo, Machine learning–based feature selection to search stable microbial biomarkers: application to inflammatory bowel disease,GigaScience, Volume 12, 2023, giad083, https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giad083
(IF: 11.8, JCR(%):7.1%, Q1 in Multidisciplinary Sciences)

Han M*, Lee YR*, Park T*, Ihm SH, Pyun WB, Burkard T, Cho MC, Camafort M, Yang E, Stergiou GS, Lee HY, Seo JM; Korean Society of Hypertension. Feasibility and measurement stability of smartwatch-based cuffless blood pressure monitoring: A real-world prospective observational study. Hypertension Research. 2023 Feb 13. doi: 10.1038/s41440-023-01215-z. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36781979.
(IF: 4.3, JCR(%): 15.1%, Q1 in Peripheral vascular disease)

Y. Lee, J. Park, S. Park, J. Seo and H. -Y. Lee, Stability of watch-based blood pressure measurements analyzed by pre-post calibration differences in IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, doi: 10.1109/OJEMB.2024.3384488.
(IF: 2.7, JCR(%):35.66%, Q2 in Engineering, Biomedical)

Youngro Lee, Advancing Stability and Validity in Machine Learning-Based Medical Data Analysis, Ph.D Thesis Paper

Youngro Lee, Jongmo Seo, Yun-Kyung Kim, AI-assisted diagnostic approach for the influenza-like illness in children: decision support system for patients and clinicians Biomedical Engineering Letters (IF: 3.2, Q2 in Engineering, Biomedical)

Youngro Lee, Taekyung Lee, Joowon Lee, Hae-Young Lee, Jongmo Seo, Validation of smartwatch-based blood pressure monitoring in young adults: Multi-perspective analysis by dual comparison with cuff-based devices IEEE Access (IF: 3.4, Q2 in Computer Science, Information Systems)

Baek C, Kim J, Lee Y, Seo JM. Fabrication and Evaluation of Cyclic Olefin Copolymer Based Implantable Neural Electrode. IEEE Transactions Biomedical Engineering. 2020 Sep;67(9):2542-2551. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2020.2963992. Epub 2020 Jan 6. PMID: 31905131.

Under Review

Youngro Lee,Giacomo Baruzzo,Jeonghwan Kim, Jong-Mo Seo, Barbara Di Camillo, Validity of feature importance for weak machine learning model

Youngro Lee*,Kyungjin Kim*, Jongmo Seo,CLE-SH: Comprehensive Literal Explanation package for SHapley values by statistical validity

Youngro Lee, Jongmo Seo, Barbara Di Camillo, Novel biomarker selection method using SHAP based binarization: Microbiome-IBD Data

Youngro Lee, Sungjoon Park, Jongae Park, Jongmo Seo, Hae-Young Lee, Feasibility of watch-based blood pressure monitoring device in daily blood pressure monitoring

Youngro Lee*, Taekyung Lee*, Jongmo Seo, Hae-young Lee, Improving cuffless BP measurement: Versatile post-processing analysis

Youngro Lee*, Joowon Lee*, Jongmo Seo, Hae-young Lee, Studying watch-based blood pressure measurement guidelines: Number of measurements and calibration differences

Youngro Lee*, Jun-Min Kim*, Xianhua Che, Hee-Jung Park Machine learning based risk indicators for periodontitis in a hypertensive Korean population

* marked authors had equal contribution

International Conference

Y. Lee, Sungjoon Park, Jongae Park, Jongmo Seo, Hae-Young Lee, Feasibility of watch-based blood pressure monitoring device in daily blood pressure monitoring, The 46th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Society of Hypertension, Japan, 2024 Oral Presentation

Y. Lee, J. Seo, and H. Lee, "Feasibility of watch-type cuff-less blood pressure measurement device in daily blood pressure monitoring" 33rd European meeting on hypertension and cardiovascular protection (ESH), Berlin, Germany, 2024 Oral Presentation

Y. Lee, J. Seo, J. Park and H. Lee, "Analysis for calibration pre-post difference in BP estimation of Galaxy Watch," 2023 45th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC), Sydney, Australia, 2023, pp. 1-3, doi: 10.1109/EMBC40787.2023.10340129.Oral Presentation

Y. Lee and J. Seo, "Suggestion of statistical validation on feature importance of machine learning," 2023 45th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC), Sydney, Australia, 2023, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/EMBC40787.2023.10340208. Full Paper

Lee, Hae-Young; Han, Minju;Lee, Young-Ro; Park, Taeyoung; Ihm, Sang-Hyun; Pyun, Wook Bum; Suh, Jong-Mo. ACCURACY AND FEASIBILITY OF SMARTWATCH-BASED CUFFLESS BLOOD PRESSURE MEASUREMENT: A REAL-WORLD PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY. Journal of Hypertension 40(Suppl 1):p e99, June 2022. | DOI: 10.1097/01.hjh.0000836216.08292.aa

Lee Y, Kim J, Bae S, Seo JM. Design of Microscope Optics for the Acquisition of Multiple Wavelength Band Image. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. (IEEE EMBC) 2019 Jul;2019:4423-4426. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2019.8857424. PMID: 31946847.Oral Presentation

Awards

Academy Achievements

Best 1-page Abstract Poster, IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (2024)
Best Poster Award, Gold Winner, The 10th International Biomedical Engineering Conference in The Korean Society of Medical and Biological Engineering (2024)
Accomodation Grant, European meeting on hypertension and cardiovascular protection (2024)
Young Investigator Award, The Korean Society of Hypertension (2022)
Cum Laude, Bachelor of Engineering, Seoul National University (2019)

English Debating (Parliamentary) Achievements

Sogang BP 6th Best Speaker, Semi-Finalist (2014)
Winter ADI Semi-Finalist (2014)
Spring KNC Octo-Finalist (2014)
North East Asian Open EFL 5th Best Speaker (2013)
KSDC EFL 2nd Best Speaker, Semi-Finalist (2013)
YTN-HUFS Debating Championship EFL Finalist (2010)

Referee Activities

Reviewer

iScience

IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (JBHI)

Journal of Biomedical Informatics (JBI)

45th Annual Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC)

Computational Intelligence Methods for Bioinformatics and Biostatistics (CIBB)

Program Organizing Committee, Program Chair

Program Chair, 45th Annual Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) 2023

Invited Advisor, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University 2020-2021

English Debating (Parliamentary) Activity

President, Seoul National University Debating Association (SNUDA) 2014

Deputy Chief Adjudicator, Korean National debating Championship (KNC) 2014

Deputy Chief Adjudicator, SNU Debating Competition (SNUDA IV) 2014,2015

Convener, SNU Debating Competition (SNUDA IV) 2014

Chief Adjudicator, Debating Competition, Chungdahm Academy, Seoul 2014