I build language models that make sense of clinical conversations and records, so that what patients say can inform the care they receive.
I am a PhD candidate in Information Technology at George Mason University, where I am advised by Dr. Kevin Lybarger in the Lybarger Language Lab. My work is in medical natural language processing: extracting structured information from patient narratives, interview transcripts and supervisory notes with large language models, and studying where those models and their annotations disagree.
I started out in medicine before switching to computer science at the American University of Beirut, which is why I keep coming back to healthcare problems. I have five years of experience building machine learning systems, from building-energy optimization to LLM information extraction and retrieval-augmented generation.
Outside of research I sew, read, write, cook, hike and take photographs.
My name, هديل (Hadeel), is the cooing of doves, a sound associated with peace and calm.
Research
Patient narratives and clinical conversations
Capturing how people with chronic pain describe their lives in motivational interviews. I coordinated the data collection and built an annotation framework with clinical collaborators covering 18 biopsychosocial categories, and I evaluate zero-shot and few-shot LLM pipelines (Llama 3.3) that map transcripts to ICF concepts.
Error analysis of LLM-assisted annotation
Using semantic clustering (HDBSCAN, agglomerative) over annotated transcripts to find systematic disagreements between human and model labels, and feeding those findings back into the annotation schema.
Language technology for public-sector records
An NLP framework built on Flan-T5 and GPT that pulls structured conditions out of probation and parole supervisory notes, reaching an F1 of 0.89 on condition classification.
Causal networks and large language models
Collaborative work on using causal networks to guide LLMs for medical reasoning, with a COVID-19 application and a Bayesian estimation algorithm over causal networks.
News
Speaking on a healthcare access panel at George Mason's Engage! event. Details
Began my term as Executive Vice President of the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA) at George Mason.
Defended my dissertation proposal and advanced to PhD candidacy.
Submitted Medical Artificial General Intelligence Algorithm to AI in Medicine.
Paper on causal networks guiding LLMs published in Health Care Management Science.
Became graduate student representative for the Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions (CASBBI).
Presented a poster at the Second Workshop on Patient-Oriented Language Processing (CL4Health), NAACL 2025. Read the paper
Won first place in the IST PhD Symposium lightning talks.
Presented at the AI-in-Gov Talent & Innovation Mixer, GMU College of Engineering and Computing.
Lightning talk at Women in High Performance Computing (VA-WHPC).
Exploring probation and parole records using natural language processing: A case study of supervisory condition notesH. Elyazori, et al.Federal Probation Journal, 2023
Under review
2025
Medical Artificial General Intelligence Algorithm: Estimation of Dependent Bayes through Causal NetworksF. Alemi, H. Elyazori, et al.AI in Medicine, submitted November 2025
2025
Applying natural language processing to clinical notes in cancer research and clinical practice: a scoping reviewA. B. Kayira, H. R. A. Elyazori, et al.Journal of Medical Informatics, submitted October 2025
2024
Natural language processing of clinical dataK. Lybarger, et al.Springer Handbook of Data Engineering, submitted August 2024
Building components of agentic applications focused on ethical AI and agentic automation.
Developing cloud data pipelines and assessing deep learning architectures.
Exploring large and small language model solutions to support business operations and research project delivery.
Contributing to cloud-based and on-premises applications and their user interfaces.
At the AIR office.Celebrating my PhD candidacy with my AIR colleagues.
Jan 2023 – present
Graduate Research Assistant
Lybarger Language Lab, George Mason University
Led the chronic-pain narratives project: coordinated collection of 10+ motivational interviewing transcripts and developed an 18-category biopsychosocial annotation framework with clinical teams.
Designed and evaluated zero-shot and few-shot Llama-3.3 pipelines for ICF concept identification, and generated 20+ synthetic transcripts.
Supported a summer undergraduate research team, working with Dr. Samuel Acuña and Dr. Kevin Lybarger, that used NLP to identify themes in patient interviews about living with chronic pain.
Analyzed errors in LLM-assisted annotation of 30+ transcripts with semantic clustering to guide schema refinement.
Built an LLM framework (Flan-T5, GPT) to extract structured information from probation and parole notes, with an F1 of 0.89 for condition classification.
Jan 2023 – May 2024
Graduate Teaching Assistant
Department of Information Sciences and Technology, George Mason University
Supported 100+ students in Web Server Administration and iOS Mobile Development through tutoring, labs and mentoring.
Graded assignments, exams and projects with detailed feedback.
Mar 2021 – Jul 2022
Machine Learning Intern
Dar Al-Handasah, Lebanon
Built a Python automation pipeline and DNN/GAN models for building energy optimization, cutting manual workflow by 30% and heat gain by 15–20%.
Designed the end-to-end ML pipeline from preprocessing and training to validation for production deployment.
Education
2022 – 2027 (expected)
PhD, Information Technology
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Concentration in Information Science and Technology. IDIA Predoctoral Fellow. Advanced to candidacy in July 2026 after defending my dissertation proposal.
With distinction. GPA 4.0/4.0. US MEPI Tomorrow's Leaders Undergraduate Scholarship. Exchange semester at American University, Washington, D.C. (Aug–Dec 2021).
Diplomas and graduation certificate
MS, George Mason University, May 2024BS with distinction, American University of Beirut, June 2022Tomorrow's Leaders graduation certificate
Certifications
Jan 2022
Civic Engagement Certificate
Tomorrow's Leaders Study Abroad Program, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)
Jan 2021
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
Microsoft
Nov 2020 – Mar 2021
AI Ready Academy
Zaka, in partnership with Microsoft
Nov 2020
Beirut AI Weekend, Technical Track
Beirut AI and Zaka. Three hands-on workshop sessions.
Aug 2020
Beirut AI Bootcamp
Zaka and Microsoft Lebanon. Online bootcamp, August 17–23.
Department of Information Sciences and Technology, George Mason University
Won first place for best presentation at the department's first PhD Symposium, presenting my research on managing chronic pain with motivational interviewing and information extraction. See photo.
Jun 2022
Valedictorian speaker
MEPI Tomorrow's Leaders (TLU), American University of Beirut, bachelor's cohort
MEPI Tomorrow's Leaders, American University of Beirut
Recognition of outstanding academic achievement.
Academic Excellence Award
2018–19
Dean's Honor List
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, American University of Beirut
Recognized for outstanding academic achievement in the Fall and Spring terms of 2018–19.
Spring 2019Fall 2018
Service
Jul 2026 – present
Executive Vice President
Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA), George Mason University
Elected by graduate and professional students in April 2026. I work to build a strong, clear bridge between the student body and university decision-makers, rooted in students' real voices.
Sep 2025 – present
Graduate Student Representative
Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions (CASBBI), GMU
Liaison between graduate students and center leadership.
Sep 2024 – present
Graduate Student Representative
Graduate and Professional Student Association (GAPSA), GMU
Represent INFT PhD students at monthly meetings and advocate for their concerns.
Sep 2024 – May 2025
Board Member
International Student Advisory Board, GMU
Represented doctoral international students on academic, social and career needs.
Talks and press
Upcoming
Oct 15, 2026
Panelist, Engage! Healthcare Access
Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning (CECiL) and the Center for MedTech Innovation, George Mason University
A panel and roundtable on healthcare access, equity, barriers and community solutions, bringing together community agencies and university faculty, staff and students. I will speak from the information technology perspective. Johnson Center, George's Cafe (3rd floor), 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM.
NAACL 2025 and the CL4Health workshop, Albuquerque
My first NAACL. I presented preliminary work on using motivational interviewing with chronic pain patients, combined with information extraction to standardize the transcripts. Read the paper.
At the NAACL 2025 welcome bannerWith my CL4Health posterExploring Albuquerque
IST PhD Symposium, April 2025
The department's first PhD Symposium. I presented my research on managing chronic pain with motivational interviewing and information extraction, and won first place for best presentation.
Presenting at the symposium
Information retrieval course poster
One of the course projects chosen for a poster presentation.
Presenting the posterThe poster
MEPI Tomorrow's Leaders graduation, June 2022
The graduation ceremony of the MEPI Tomorrow's Leaders program at the American University of Beirut, where I gave the valedictorian speech for the bachelor's cohort.
The graduating class and guestsWith Dr. Hani Hassan, AUB MEPI-TLU Director, and Melissa AjamianWith my graduation folder
MEPI capstone showcase
Third place, presented to MEPI administrators and US Embassy staff in Lebanon.
Presenting my capstone projectPresenting to the audienceGroup photo after the showcase
College-to-Work Pipeline presentation
Tomorrow's Leaders program, presented with my team.
Our team presentingWith my team afterwards
In the press
Digital Innovation Industry Graduate Internships SpotlightInstitute for Digital Innovation (IDIA), George Mason University, 2026. A feature on the graduate students interning with the American Institutes for Research through IDIA's Digital Innovation Summer Industry Graduate Internships program, including my work on AI development.
Student research video on the lived experience of chronic pain2025. Made by summer undergraduate researchers led by Dr. Samuel Acuña (Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering), who interviewed patients and used NLP to uncover themes a clinical intake assessment misses. I appear in the video, and Dr. Acuña credited me and Dr. Kevin Lybarger for helping with the project.
GAPSA Rep SpotlightMason Grad Student Weekly News, December 3, 2024.
IDIA Predoctoral FellowsInstitute for Digital InnovAtion, George Mason University, 2024 cohort. My fellowship proposal on chronic pain and motivational interviewing.
