Dr. May Anne Mata of the University of the Philippines Mindanao has proven that mathematics can save lives through her passion for applied mathematics, which has helped communities respond to public health problems. She has been awarded the 2025 Outstanding Young Scientist award by the Department of Science and Technology-National Academy of Science and Technology Philippines for her excellent work in various fields and endeavors using applied mathematics. Her research in infectious disease modeling and analysis, applied mathematics, mathematical biology, and operations research has brought distinction to her discipline, UP Mindanao, and the broader Mindanao scientific community.
Born and raised in Davao City, Dr. Mata is known for her innovative use of mathematical models to guide public health decisions, particularly in controlling rabies, informing Covid-19 response strategies, and advocating for digital transformation in local health offices. She has developed forecasting tools to predict rabies cases and helped design an analytics dashboard to monitor outbreaks and plan vaccination campaigns. Dr. Mata is currently the Director of the Office of Research at UP Mindanao and the Division Head for Complexity under the UP Intelligent Systems Center.
Her career is dedicated to mentoring others, and she is training more young mathematicians and scientists to work in critical areas. Dr. Mata is an active member of the Modeling Infectious Diseases in Southeast Asia Network and serves as the director of the Mindanao Center for Disease Watch and Analytics (DiWA), the first health analytics research center established in Mindanao. Under her leadership, DiWA was recently recognized for its commitment to applying mathematics, computer programming, and science in service of communities. Dr. Mata’s work continues to prove that numbers can make a difference when guided by purpose.
