Top (2009) 17: 215–236 DOI 10.1007/s11750-009-0124-1 INVITED PAPER Optimization and data mining in medicine Panos M. Pardalos · Vera Tomaino · Petros Xanthopoulos Published online: 8 December 2009 © Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa 2009 Abstract Mathematical theory of optimization has found many applications in the area of medicine over the last few decades. Several data analysis and decision mak- ing problems in medicine can be formulated using optimization and data mining tech- niques. The significance of the mathematical models is greatly realized in the recent years owing to the growing technological capabilities and the large amounts of data available. In this paper, we attempt to give a brief overview of some of the most in- teresting applications of mathematical programming and data mining in medicine. In the overview, we include applications like radiation therapy treatment, microarray data analysis, and computational neuroscience. Keywords Optimization · Medicine · Computational biology · Computational neuroscience Mathematics Subject Classification (2000) 90-02 · 90C90 · 92B05 This invited paper is discussed in the comments available at: doi:10.1007/s11750-009-0125-0, doi:10.1007/s11750-009-0127-y, doi:10.1007/s11750-009-0128-x, doi:10.1007/s11750-009-0129-9, doi:10.1007/s11750-009-0130-3. P.M. Pardalos ( ) · V. Tomaino · P. Xanthopoulos Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32601, USA e-mail: pardalos@ufl.edu P. Xanthopoulos e-mail: petrosx@ufl.edu V. Tomaino Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy e-mail: vera.tomaino@unicz.it