- About Me
- Publications
About Me

I am an Assistant Professor in Health Informatics and Information Systems at the University of Ottawa. I also hold an Adjunct Faculty position at the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University. Before that, I was a Research Associate and Post-Doctoral Fellow at the NICHE Research Group at Dalhousie University. I was a teaching assistant for 6 years at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, obtaining the degree of Doctor in Sciences in 2013.
Research Interests
My research interests lie at the crossroads of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR), Information Systems (IS) engineering, and Mobile Computing. In particular, I am interested in applying these technologies to innovate domains such as healthcare, law, government and business.
Publications
2022
William Van Woensel; Samina Abidi; Karthik Tennankore; George Worthen; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi
Explainable Decision Support using Task Network Models in Notation3: Computerizing Lipid Management Clinical Guidelines as Interactive Task Networks Proceedings Article
In: 20th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME 2022), June 14-17, 2022, Halifax, Springer, 2022.
BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical guidelines, Notation3, Semantic Web reasoning, Task Network Models
@inproceedings{glean_2022,
title = {Explainable Decision Support using Task Network Models in Notation3: Computerizing Lipid Management Clinical Guidelines as Interactive Task Networks},
author = {William Van Woensel and Samina Abidi and Karthik Tennankore and George Worthen and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-06-17},
urldate = {2022-06-17},
booktitle = {20th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME 2022), June 14-17, 2022, Halifax},
publisher = {Springer},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical guidelines, Notation3, Semantic Web reasoning, Task Network Models},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
William Van Woensel; Samina Abidi; Karthik Tennankore; George Worthen; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi
Clinical Guidelines as Executable and Interactive Workflows with FHIR-Compliant Health Data Input using GLEAN Proceedings Article
In: 20th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME 2022): Demo Track, June 14-17, Halifax, 2022, Springer, 2022.
BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical guidelines, Notation3, Semantic Web reasoning, Task Network Models
@inproceedings{glean-demo,
title = {Clinical Guidelines as Executable and Interactive Workflows with FHIR-Compliant Health Data Input using GLEAN},
author = {William Van Woensel and Samina Abidi and Karthik Tennankore and George Worthen and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-06-17},
urldate = {2022-06-17},
booktitle = {20th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME 2022): Demo Track, June 14-17, Halifax, 2022},
publisher = {Springer},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical guidelines, Notation3, Semantic Web reasoning, Task Network Models},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2021
D O'Sullivan; W Van Woensel; S Wilk; S W Tu; W Michalowski; S Abidi; M Carrier; R Edry; I Hochberg; S Kingwell; K Kogan; M Michalowski; H O'Sullivan; M Peleg
Towards a framework for comparing functionalities of multimorbidity clinical decision support: A literature-based feature set and benchmark cases Proceedings Article
In: AMIA 2021 Annual Symposium, San Diego, CA, 2021.
BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Comorbidity
@inproceedings{OSullivan2021,
title = {Towards a framework for comparing functionalities of multimorbidity clinical decision support: A literature-based feature set and benchmark cases},
author = {D O'Sullivan and W Van Woensel and S Wilk and S W Tu and W Michalowski and S Abidi and M Carrier and R Edry and I Hochberg and S Kingwell and K Kogan and M Michalowski and H O'Sullivan and M Peleg},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-10-30},
urldate = {2021-01-01},
booktitle = {AMIA 2021 Annual Symposium},
address = {San Diego, CA},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Comorbidity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
William Van Woensel; Manal Elnenaei; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi; David B Clarke; Syed Ali Imran
Staged Reflexive Artificial Intelligence Driven Testing Algorithms for Early Diagnosis of Pituitary Disorders Journal Article
In: Clinical Biochemistry, 2021.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Health Informatics, Reflex Protocols
@article{VanWoensel2021b,
title = {Staged Reflexive Artificial Intelligence Driven Testing Algorithms for Early Diagnosis of Pituitary Disorders},
author = {William Van Woensel and Manal Elnenaei and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi and David B Clarke and Syed Ali Imran},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009912021002265},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-08-20},
urldate = {2021-08-20},
journal = {Clinical Biochemistry},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Health Informatics, Reflex Protocols},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
William Van Woensel; Manal Elnenaei; Syed Ali Imran; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi
Semantic Web Framework to Computerize Staged Reflex Testing Protocols to Mitigate Underutilization of Pathology Tests for Diagnosing Pituitary Disorders Proceedings Article
In: International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME), 2021.
BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Reflex Protocols, Semantic Web
@inproceedings{wvw_aime_21,
title = {Semantic Web Framework to Computerize Staged Reflex Testing Protocols to Mitigate Underutilization of Pathology Tests for Diagnosing Pituitary Disorders},
author = {William Van Woensel and Manal Elnenaei and Syed Ali Imran and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-06-16},
urldate = {2021-06-16},
booktitle = {International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME)},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Reflex Protocols, Semantic Web},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
William Van Woensel; Chad Armstrong; Malavan Rajaratnam; Vaibhav Gupta; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi
Using Knowledge Graphs to Plausibly Infer Missing Associations in EMR Data Proceedings Article
In: 31st Medical Informatics Europe (MIE2021), pp. 417-421, 2021.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Knowledge Graphs, Plausible reasoning, Semantic Similarity
@inproceedings{wvw_mie21_1,
title = {Using Knowledge Graphs to Plausibly Infer Missing Associations in EMR Data},
author = {William Van Woensel and Chad Armstrong and Malavan Rajaratnam and Vaibhav Gupta and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3233/shti210192},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-05-29},
urldate = {2021-05-29},
booktitle = {31st Medical Informatics Europe (MIE2021)},
pages = {417-421},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Knowledge Graphs, Plausible reasoning, Semantic Similarity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2020
William Van Woensel; Samina Abidi; Borna Jafarpour; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi
A CIG Integration Framework to Provide Decision Support for Comorbid Conditions using Transaction-based Semantics and Temporal Planning Proceedings Article
In: International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME 2020), 2020.
Abstract | BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Comorbidities, Ontology, Semantic Web
@inproceedings{VANWOENSEL2020-COCIG1,
title = {A CIG Integration Framework to Provide Decision Support for Comorbid Conditions using Transaction-based Semantics and Temporal Planning},
author = {William Van Woensel and Samina Abidi and Borna Jafarpour and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-08-01},
urldate = {2020-08-01},
booktitle = {International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIME 2020)},
abstract = {Managing comorbid conditions, i.e., patients with multiple medical conditions, is quite challenging for Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) based on computerized Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG). In case of comorbidity, CDSS will need to recommend treatments from multiple different CPG, which may adversely interact (e.g., drug-disease interactions), or introduce inefficiencies. A-priori, static integration of computerized comorbid CPG is insufficient for clinical practice. In this paper, we present a solution for dynamic integration of CPG in response to evolving health profiles. Using Description and Transaction Logics, we define a set of CIG integration semantics for encoding integration decisions that cope with comorbidity issues at execution-time. These dynamic, transaction-based semantics are well-suited to roll back prior decisions when no longer safe or efficient; or, inversely, apply new decisions when relevant. Moreover, comorbid CIG integration should consider temporal properties of CIG tasks—at execution-time, these properties will be influenced by a range of temporal constraints. Given all temporal constraints, optimal task schedules will be calculated that will determine the feasibility of CIG integration decisions.},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Comorbidities, Ontology, Semantic Web},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2016
Hossein Mohammadhassanzadeh; William Van Woensel; Samina Raza Abidi; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi
A Semantic Web-based Approach to Plausible Reasoning for Improving Clinical Knowledge Engineering Proceedings Article
In: IEEE International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics, Las Vegas, 2016.
Abstract | BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Plausbile Reasoning, Semantic Web
@inproceedings{Mohammadhassanzadeh2016,
title = {A Semantic Web-based Approach to Plausible Reasoning for Improving Clinical Knowledge Engineering},
author = {Hossein Mohammadhassanzadeh and William Van Woensel and Samina Raza Abidi and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-02-24},
urldate = {2016-02-24},
booktitle = {IEEE International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics, Las Vegas},
abstract = {In this paper, we present a semantic web based knowledge engineering approach to extend the coverage of medical knowledge-based systems in order to solve complex medical queries that demand the integration of deterministic and plausible knowledge. We leverage plausible reasoning mechanisms, which exploit associations between the underlying domain-specific data, as well as tentative domain knowledge, to extend the coverage of a medical knowledge base. We demonstrate that Semantic Web technologies, due to their efficient solutions for federated data management and built-in DL-based inferencing methods, offer useful opportunities to support plausible reasoning for medical decision support tasks. We evaluated our multi-strategy medical reasoning approach using real-world medical data. Our results illustrate that plausible reasoning improved the knowledge coverage of the original medical knowledge base by 10-12%, and in turn helped to solve complex disease diagnostic queries.},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Plausbile Reasoning, Semantic Web},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2014
Patrice C. Roy; Newres Al Haider; William Van Woensel; Ahmad Marwan Ahmad; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi
Towards Guideline Compliant Clinical Decision Support System Integration in Smart and Mobile Environments: Formalizing and Using Clinical Guidelines For Diagnosing Sleep Apnea Proceedings Article
In: AAAI Workshop on Artificial Intelligence Applied to Assistive Technologies and Smart Environments (ATSE 2014), AAAI Press, Quebec, Canada, 2014.
Links | BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Health Informatics
@inproceedings{Roy2014,
title = {Towards Guideline Compliant Clinical Decision Support System Integration in Smart and Mobile Environments: Formalizing and Using Clinical Guidelines For Diagnosing Sleep Apnea},
author = { Patrice C. Roy and Newres Al Haider and William Van Woensel and Ahmad Marwan Ahmad and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi},
url = {http://web.cs.dal.ca/~woensel/paper/Towards Guideline Compliant Clinical Decision Support System Integration in Smart and Mobile Environments.pdf},
year = {2014},
date = {2014-01-01},
booktitle = {AAAI Workshop on Artificial Intelligence Applied to Assistive Technologies and Smart Environments (ATSE 2014)},
publisher = {AAAI Press},
address = {Quebec, Canada},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Health Informatics},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
0000
William Van Woensel; Samina Raza Abidi; Syed Sibte Raza Abidi
Decision Support for Comorbid Conditions via Execution-Time Integration of Clinical Guidelines Using Transaction-based Semantics and Temporal Planning (under review) Journal Article
In: Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, 0000.
BibTeX | Tags: Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Comorbidity
@article{wvw_aiim_21,
title = {Decision Support for Comorbid Conditions via Execution-Time Integration of Clinical Guidelines Using Transaction-based Semantics and Temporal Planning (under review)},
author = {William Van Woensel and Samina Raza Abidi and Syed Sibte Raza Abidi},
journal = {Artificial Intelligence in Medicine},
keywords = {Clinical Decision Support Systems, Clinical Practice Guidelines, Comorbidity},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}