Sendhil Mullainathan

Sendhil Mullainathan is a Professor with Dual Appointment in Economics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT and Co-Chair of J-PAL's Partnership for AI Evidence. His current research uses machine learning to understand complex problems in human behavior, social policy, and especially medicine, where computational techniques have the potential to uncover biomedical insights from large-scale health data. In past work, he has combined insights from economics and behavioral science with causal inference tools—lab, field, and natural experiments—to study social problems such as discrimination and poverty. 

Sendhil is the Co-Founder of J-PAL along with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. He is also the Co-Founder of the computational medicine initiative, Nightingale; Pique, an app that changes how people read books and learn; and Dandelion, a company that catalyzes AI in healthcare. Sendhil helped co-found a nonprofit to apply behavioral science, Ideas42.

Sendhil is a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant,” has been designated a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, was labeled a “Top 100 Thinker” by Foreign Policy Magazine, and was named to the “Smart List: 50 people who will change the world” by Wired Magazine (UK). 

Sendhil has served as a lecturer at J-PAL training events.