About Research Presentations Blog Education CV

About Me

I hold a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Economy (Public Health, Behavioral Economics) from the University of Texas at Dallas.

My research lies at the intersection of Health Economics, Agentic AI, and Computational Behavioral Science. I specialize in developing and validating LLM-based agentic workflows for healthcare decision-making, combining Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs), structural econometric modeling, and large-scale health data analysis.

I have extensive experience with EHR and claims data, having worked with linked administrative databases to model vaccination decisions and treatment effects. My recent work includes a 15-model LLM validation study (N=1,027) evaluating AI-generated behavioral responses against human choice data, developing frameworks to align generative agents with empirical choice frontiers.

My research has been supported by the UTD Dean of Graduate Education Dissertation Research Award and the NIJ Data Science for Criminal Justice Research Fellowship.

Research

Agentic AI & LLM Validation

Value Sensitivity in LLM-Generated Policy Simulations: A Validation Framework Agentic AI
Under Review — Targeting HSR Methods
Paper [PDF] Research Repo [GitHub]
Led a 15-model experiment evaluating LLM outputs against human choice data (N=1,027) in a DCE on COVID-19 vaccination. Developed a validation framework to align generative agents with empirical choice frontiers, achieving significant reduction in frontier-deviation MSE. The study establishes protocols for using LLM agents in health policy simulation while maintaining behavioral validity.
Empirical-Frontier Regularization for LLM Synthetic Agents Working Paper
SSRN Link. Submitted to AI and Economics (AIE) Summer Conference 2026.
Developed a 3-stage framework integrating DCE data and Structural Causal Modeling (SCM) to align generative agents with empirical choice frontiers, achieving a 93.8% reduction in frontier-deviation MSE. Provides methodology for calibrating LLM agents to match observed human behavior in health policy contexts.

Health Economics & Pharmacoepidemiology

Waiting Time as a Behavioral Barrier to Vaccination Uptake: Nonlinear Heterogeneity by Institutional Trust Job Market Paper
Yichao Jin Job Market Paper.
Paper [PDF] Slides [PDF]
Examines waiting time as a behavioral barrier to preventive health decision-making using a Discrete Choice Experiment (N=1,027) in Wuhan, China. Formal interaction tests reveal that individuals with lower institutional trust are substantially more sensitive to delay. The study utilizes linked administrative data to model vaccination timing decisions and identify heterogeneity across urban-rural residency and education levels.
Ideological Contamination in Policy Simulation: Separating Political Bias from Model Capabilities
Working Paper.
Investigates the disentanglement of inherent LLM ideological priors from structural predictive capabilities. Proposes a bias-correction methodology to enhance the fidelity of administrative burden simulations.
The Price of Waiting: Evidence on Cash–Time Trade-Offs in Vaccination Time Discount
Manuscript in Preparation (Expected submission: 2026) — Targeting Social Science & Medicine.

Research Pipelines

Comparative Effectiveness of Anticoagulation Strategies in Older Adults with Dementia
Research Pipeline — EHR/Claims Data Analysis
Developing analytical frameworks for treatment effect heterogeneity evaluation using large-scale electronic health records and insurance claims data. Focus on optimal prescribing in vulnerable populations.

Presentations

Apr
2026

ASHEcon 2026 Annual Conference

"The Shadow Price of Vaccination Delay: Evidence From a Case Study from Wuhan, China"

Minneapolis, MN

Apr
2026

Ph.D. Dissertation Defense

"Behavioral Barriers to Vaccination Uptake: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment"

University of Texas at Dallas

Nov
2025

APPAM Fall Research Conference

"Estimating Time Discount Rate for Vaccination"

Washington, D.C.

Education

University of Texas at Dallas

Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Economy

Dissertation: "Dynamics of Intertemporal Choice in Vaccination Timing"

Committee: Dohyeong Kim (Chair), Richard Scotch, Soyoung Kwon, Khai Chiong

2026

University of Queensland

Master of Development Economics

2019

University of California, Riverside

Bachelor of Arts in Economics

2017

Certifications

Stanford University

Graduate Certificate in Artificial Intelligence

Focus: AI Foundations, Machine Learning, and Applications

CITI Program

Human Subjects Protection

Social & Behavioral Research — Active through Oct 2025

Teaching

Teaching Assistant at UT Dallas

  • Quantitative Methods for Policy Analysis (Graduate) — Led econometrics labs and R programming tutorials for master's students.
  • Public Policy Analysis — Coached undergraduate students on policy memo writing and analytical frameworks.
  • Health Economics & Public Policy — Provided lecture support, graded assignments, and facilitated case study discussions.

Honors & Awards

Dean of Graduate Education Dissertation Research Award

UT Dallas

2025

Betty & Gifford Johnson Graduate Travel Award

UT Dallas

2025

Omicron Delta Epsilon

International Honor Society for Economics