2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Michael Lingzhi Li, Harvard Business School

Michael Lingzhi Li
Harvard Business School

“He was by far the best professor that I’ve had! He was able to distill complex concepts and simplify them, while also managing to make them fun! He was so loved by our class, we even invited him to join in as a guest performer during our class dance competition. No one deserves this recognition more than him!” – Faben Wogayehu

Michael Lingzhi Li, 28, is an Assistant Professor in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He is also a Co-Principal Investigator at the Data Science and AI Operations Lab at the Digital Data Design Institute and a Faculty Affiliate at the Harvard Data Science Initiative. His research focuses on the intersection of causal inference, machine learning, and optimization, with an emphasis on designing data-driven algorithms for high-stakes decision-making in healthcare and beyond.

As part of his academic collaborations, Li serves as Co-Director of the Computational Healthcare Analytics Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he partners with clinicians and data scientists to bring advanced analytics into operational and clinical settings. He has worked with hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and public health agencies to develop and deploy machine learning systems in real-world environments. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he contributed to forecasting efforts for public health agencies and collaborated with Janssen Pharmaceuticals on one of the first applications of AI to accelerate a large-scale clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine. He is also a founding member of the AI in Drug Discovery, Development and Commercialization Consortium at the Drug Information Association. 

His work has been recognized with several awards, including the Innovative Applications in Analytics Award, the Edelman Laureate Award, and the Kuhn Award. His research has been featured in MIT News and The New York Times.

His academic publications have appeared in leading academic journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Nature Communications, Operations Research, and the Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA).

He received his Ph.D. in Operations Research and a Masters in Business Analytics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year? 2023

Education:  PhD in Operations Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Masters in Business Analytics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, University of Cambridge

List of MBA courses you currently teach: Technology and Operations Management

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… honestly, I didn’t—at least not at first. For much of my Ph.D., I was fairly certain I wouldn’t go into academia. In fact, I even (famously, among my friends) declared to my advisor that it wasn’t the path for me. I was more drawn to building things, solving real problems, and working directly with practitioners—goals I didn’t initially associate with academic life.

But over time, my view started to shift. Part of it was watching my advisor—someone who didn’t just publish papers, but who truly engaged with the world: influencing policy, shaping real decisions, and mentoring students in a way that made a lasting difference. I began to realize that being a business school professor isn’t about retreating into theory; it’s about translating rigorous thinking into real-world relevance. It’s about helping students make sense of complexity and preparing them to lead with clarity and conviction.

That blend—of ideas with impact, of teaching with purpose—snuck up on me. By the time I finished my Ph.D., I found myself wanting exactly that kind of life. And I haven’t looked back since.

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? My current research is focused on one central question: How can we make AI truly impactful in high-stakes environments like healthcare? While AI and machine learning have advanced rapidly in recent years, we’re still far, in many cases, from integrating these tools into settings where lives, livelihoods, or long-term well-being are at stake. The gap isn’t just technical—it’s also human.

A major part of the challenge is trust. In high-stakes decisions, people don’t just want accuracy; they want to understand, to be heard, and to feel that the algorithm is working with them—not just computing at them. My research has been centered on designing AI systems that integrate human behavior, human feedback, and transparent reasoning into their core logic. The goal is to move beyond the model as a “black box” and toward something closer to a trusted collaborator—something you can talk to, question, and rely on like a thoughtful colleague.

One of the most important insights I’ve found so far is that simply adding transparency or explainability isn’t enough. People care not just what an algorithm recommends, but how it reasons, and how it responds when they push back. That interaction—between algorithm and human decision-maker—can dramatically affect trust, adoption, and ultimately outcomes. I’m currently developing new algorithms that adapt to these dynamics.

If I weren’t a business school professor… I would be an entrepreneur. 

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? I’d defer to my students on that. If their feedback is any indication, what stands out most is my energy in the classroom—many describe me as passionate, enthusiastic, and deeply invested in their learning. I care a lot about clarity, so I work hard to break down difficult concepts in ways that feel accessible without diluting the rigor.

Students have also noted that I strike a balance between pushing them to go deeper in their contributions and creating a space where they feel comfortable taking intellectual risks. Managing a case discussion is never an exact science—it requires improvisation, judgment, and empathy—but I try to be attuned to when a conversation needs to be stretched further and when it needs to move on.

I wouldn’t claim to be a master at any of this. But I care, I prepare, and I stay open to learning from every class. And over time, I think that makes a difference.

One word that describes my first time teaching: Invigorating

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: That this is an incredible experience, so I would have made up my mind sooner.

Professor I most admire and why: That would have to be Professor Dimitris Bertsimas, my Ph.D. advisor and mentor. He is a Professor of Operations Research and the Associate Dean for the Master of Business Analytics at MIT, and was recently appointed Vice Provost for Open Learning in September 2024.

What makes him exceptional is not just the volume of his contributions, but the consistency of their depth and impact. He has graduated over 100 Ph.D. students—a remarkable number by any standard, and by far the most in our field—while simultaneously driving real-world innovation across areas ranging from robust optimization to healthcare delivery. On top of that, he has co-founded several successful companies, further demonstrating how academic research can meaningfully shape practice.

But what I admire most is not just his intellect or productivity—it’s his presence. In the midst of everything, he has always made time to mentor each of his students individually. I was deeply shaped by his infectious enthusiasm for research, his boundless curiosity, and his unwavering belief that rigorous thinking should be in service of solving important problems. His example continues to guide the kind of professor I aspire to be.

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? The sheer level of engagement, curiosity, and energy—both inside and outside the classroom—is genuinely invigorating. What I find most rewarding is the way students bring original, sometimes surprising perspectives to the case material. Often, they’ll take the discussion in directions I hadn’t anticipated, raising ideas that force us all to reevaluate the assumptions underlying the case. But the learning doesn’t stop when class ends. In office hours and hallway conversations, I get to hear about their personal journeys, their startup concepts, or the industries they’re eager to transform. The mix of intellectual rigor and human ambition creates an environment that is not only deeply enjoyable but also personally uplifting and thought-provoking. It reminds me why I teach—not just to deliver content, but to be part of a larger exploration of how ideas take root and evolve in the real world. 

What is most challenging? With 90-something students in a section, each bringing a vastly different set of experiences—ranging from early-career entrepreneurs to former military officers to engineers and consultants—it’s a constant challenge to strike the right balance in the classroom. In a case-based format, there’s no fixed script, and that’s both the beauty and the difficulty of it. I have to be continuously attentive: adjusting questions, reframing discussions, and finding ways to surface quieter voices without slowing the momentum of the conversation. The goal is always to create a space where every student, regardless of their background, can engage meaningfully with the material and with one another. Doing that well requires a mix of preparation and flexibility, but also a willingness to be surprised—and to learn, just as much as to teach.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Inquisitive

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Resigned

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as? …nice but fair. I care deeply about rewarding thoughtful, original thinking—even if it challenges conventional wisdom or diverges from the most obvious interpretation of the case. In fact, I actively encourage students to take intellectual risks, as long as those risks are grounded in logic and evidence. At the same time, fairness matters. I don’t believe in giving partial credit to arguments that skip essential reasoning or rest on leaps of logic just because they’re creative.

One of the most difficult but necessary aspects of grading is maintaining consistency. Every student deserves to be evaluated by the same standard, even when I empathize with their perspective or wish I could justify a higher score. I’m also aware that no one is immune to bias, and I try not to pretend otherwise. To keep myself honest, I use a set of statistical checks to detect patterns in how I grade—across sections, demographics, and even time of day. It’s not perfect, but it helps me ensure that the fairness I value in principle is reflected in practice.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Swimming, hiking and piano are some of my main hobbies. 

How will you spend your summer? Mostly working on some of the exciting research described above, but I will also be traveling across Europe. 

Favorite place(s) to vacation: Banff & Jasper National Park in the Summer; Hokkaido, Japan in the Winter

Favorite book(s):  Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges. This is by far my favorite collection of short stories. What fascinates me most is how Borges is able to explore incredibly deep philosophical and epistemological concepts—ideas about infinity, identity, time, and knowledge—all within the compressed form of a short story. There’s something remarkable about how he constructs entire intellectual universes in just a few pages. I might never have discovered the book if it weren’t for my high school English teacher, Mr. Zach Sanders, who assigned it as reading. Stories like The Library of Babel and The Garden of Forking Paths have stayed with me ever since—each one feels like a compact thought experiment that continues to unfold long after you’ve finished reading.

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much?  I haven’t been able to watch as many shows lately as I’d like, but my long-time favorite has always been Crime Scene Investigation (CSI). Even though I’ve slowly come to realize how unrealistic the investigations were, I still loved how each episode felt like opening a mystery box—you never knew where it would lead, but it always came together in the end. That mix of curiosity, suspense, and problem-solving really stuck with me.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I consume a lot of both Alternative Rock and Classical Piano, depending on my mood. My favorite artist/group for the former is Linkin Park, and my favorite artist for the latter is Bach – the Fugues are intricate pieces of music that function as if they are precision machines.  

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… Rigorous evaluation and thoughtful iteration. While business schools have always emphasized frameworks and case studies, I believe they should play a much stronger role in assessing what actually works in the real world—across technologies, organizational structures, and decision-making processes. We’re living in a time where new tools—especially AI—are being introduced faster than we can make sense of them. Business schools should be the place where that sense-making happens.

That doesn’t mean chasing every trend. It means building the infrastructure and culture to systematically test new ideas, measure their impact, and understand why they succeed or fail. It also means taking the lead in connecting with other parts of the university—engineering, medicine, public policy—not just to experiment, but to evaluate how these innovations translate when applied across different domains.

Ultimately, business schools should be more than just observers of change. We should be the place where change gets interrogated—carefully, openly, and with the tools to shape it into something useful.

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at… Deploying AI thoughtfully in high-stakes, high-impact decision-making. Many organizations are either hesitant to take the leap or treat AI as a plug-and-play tool rather than something that must be shaped, adapted, and stewarded. The reality is that every company will need its own approach to AI—what works in a logistics firm won’t work in a hospital or an investment bank.

To get there, organizations need to take calculated risks. They need to be willing to experiment, learn from failure, and create internal processes for evaluating how AI systems actually perform when integrated into decision workflows. The companies that embrace this kind of responsible innovation—who learn not just what AI can do, but how to use it well—will be the ones that lead in the decades ahead.

I’m grateful for… the incredible amount of support I have received throughout my journey, from my parents, my wife, to my mentors, advisors, collaborators, and students. I would not be here without any of them. 

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