- Currently, I am a Specially Appointed Associate Researcher (特任副研究员) at [Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center](https://iai.ustc.edu.cn/nsjsys.jhtml). - I am also a postdoctoral researcher jointly trained by the School of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, USTC (supervisor: Prof. [Wenjie Feng](https://wenchieh.github.io)), and IAI, HFCNS (supervisor: Prof. [Jiahong Gao](https://faculty.pku.edu.cn/gaojiahong/zh_CN/index/13498/list/index.htm)). - I got my Ph. D. degree from School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China ([USTC](http://bme.ustc.edu.cn/)) in 2025, supervised by Prof. [S. Kevin Zhou](https://sz.ustc.edu.cn/en/en_research_show/42.html). - I received my bachelor's and master's degree (Supervisor: Prof. [Zhongze Gu](https://bme.seu.edu.cn/2011/1017/c463a12264/page.psp)) from Southeast University ([SEU](https://www.seu.edu.cn)) in 2018 and 2021, respectively. - My research interests mainly focus on **algorithm fairness in medical image analysis**, and **AI technologies in major neurological disorders of the brain**.

(Selected publications, `*` indicates equal contribution and ✉️ represents corresponding author.) ### Algorithm Fairness - `npj Digit. Med. 2025` [Fair ultrasound diagnosis via adversarial protected attribute aware perturbations on latent embeddings](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-01641-y)\ **Zikang Xu**, Fenghe Tang, Quan Quan, Qingsong Yao, Qingpeng Kong, Jianrui Ding, Chunping Ning, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [](https://github.com/XuZikang/APPLE)[[code](https://github.com/XuZikang/APPLE)][[Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-025-01641-y)] - `npj Digit. Med. 2024` [Addressing Fairness Issues in Deep Learning-Based Medical Image Analysis: A Systematic Review](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01276-5)\ **Zikang Xu**, Jun Li, Qingsong Yao, Han Li, Mingyue Zhao, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [](https://github.com/XuZikang/Awesome-MedIA-Fairness)[[code](https://github.com/XuZikang/Awesome-MedIA-Fairness)][[Nature](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01276-5)] - `NeurIPS 2024` [FairMedFM: Fairness Benchmarking for Medical Imaging Foundation Models](https://openreview.net/forum?id=CyrKKKN3fs&referrer=%5Bthe%20profile%20of%20Yuan%20Zhong%5D(%2Fprofile%3Fid%3D~Yuan_Zhong5))\ **Ruinan Jin\***, **Zikang Xu\***, **Yuan Zhong\***, Qingsong Yao, Qi Dou✉️, S. Kevin Zhou✉️, Xiaoxiao Li✉️   [](https://github.com/FairMedFM/FairMedFM)[[code](https://github.com/FairMedFM/FairMedFM)][[OpenReview](https://openreview.net/forum?id=CyrKKKN3fs&referrer=%5Bthe%20profile%20of%20Yuan%20Zhong%5D(%2Fprofile%3Fid%3D~Yuan_Zhong5))] - `MICCAI 2023` [FairAdaBN: Mitigating unfairness with adaptive batch normalization and its application to dermatological disease classification](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.08325)\ **Zikang Xu**, Shang Zhao, Quan Quan, Qingsong Yao, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [](https://github.com/XuZikang/FairAdaBN)[[code](https://github.com/XuZikang/FairAdaBN)][[Springer](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-43895-0_29)] ### MEG Signal Analysis - `BIBM 2025` [FAIR-ESI: Feature Adaptive Importance Refinement for Electrophysiological Source Imaging](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11356466?TSPD_101_R0=0807dc117eab20006822586e70f38627dfbba3aa5dbbb54876dd942d0c19bf92fa7d46c12d722fb308706c9c4d1430004a40616e20c72ec836ba8b5a49ac127de18a3d86b0b999e64d13889c501fee3faa0d64ba6e7d18819c7079978e4f1bb2)\ Linyong Zou*, Liang Zhang*, Xiongfei Wang*, Jia-Hong Gao, Yi Sun, Shurong Sheng, Kuntao Xiao, Wanli Yang, Pengfei Teng, Guoming Luan✉️, Zhao Lv✉️, **Zikang Xu**✉️ [[ArXiv]](https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.14928) ### Landmark Detection - `MICCAI 2024` [SIX-Net: Spatial-Context Information miX-up for Electrode Landmark Detection (Early Accepted)](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-72378-0_32)\ Xinyi Wang, **Zikang Xu**, Heqin Zhu, Qingsong Yao, Yiyong Sun, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [[Springer](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-72378-0_32)] - `MIDL 2024` [OFELIA: Optical Flow-based Electrode LocalIzAtion](https://openreview.net/pdf?id=8245ExLB4I)\ Xinyi Wang, **Zikang Xu**, Qingsong Yao, Yiyong Sun, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [[OpenReview](https://openreview.net/pdf?id=8245ExLB4I)] ### Medical Image Segmentation - `Med. Image Anal. 2025` [LACOSTE: Exploiting stereo and temporal contexts for surgical instrument segmentation](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1361841524003128)\ Qiyuan Wang, Shang Zhao, **Zikang Xu**, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [[ScienceDirect](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1361841524003128)] - `MIDL 2024` [Slide-SAM: Medical SAM Meets Sliding Window (Oral)](https://openreview.net/forum?id=LNdU9RTv3L&referrer=%5Bthe%20profile%20of%20Fenghe%20Tang%5D(%2Fprofile%3Fid%3D~Fenghe_Tang1))\ Quan Quan\*, Fenghe Tang\*, **Zikang Xu**, Heqin Zhu, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [](https://github.com/Curli-quan/Slide-SAM)[[code](https://github.com/Curli-quan/Slide-SAM)][[arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.10121v3)] ### MISC - `AAAI 2026` [Medatlas: Evaluating LLMs for Multi-Round, Multi-Task Medical Reasoning Across Diverse Imaging Modalities and Clinical Text](https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/41142)\ Ronghao Xu, Zhen Huang, Yangbo Wei, Xiaoqian Zhou, **Zikang Xu**, Ting Liu, Zihang Jiang, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [[AAAI](https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI/article/view/41142)] - `MIDL 2025` [Style-Aligned Image Composition for Robust Detection of Abnormal Cells in Cytopathology (Oral)](https://openreview.net/pdf?id=VQrbxORlvv)\ Qiuyi Qi\*, Xin Li\*, Ming Kong, Zikang Xu, Bingdi Chen, Qiang Zhu✉️, S. Kevin Zhou✉️   [](https://github.com/Joey-Qi/SAIC)[[code](https://github.com/Joey-Qi/SAIC)][[OpenReview](https://openreview.net/pdf?id=VQrbxORlvv)]

- *2025*: Outstanding Graduate of Anhui Province - *2025*: Outstanding Graduate of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) - *2021, 2023, 2024*: Academic First Class Scholarship in USTC - *2022*: Academic Second Class Scholarship in USTC - *2021*: Suzhou Industrial Park Scholarship

*Journal Reviewers:* - IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging - ACM Transactions on Computing for Healthcare - Biomedical Signal Processing and Control - Franklin Open - ACM Computing Surveys *Conference Reviewers:* - The 40th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2026) - International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2026) - International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2025) - International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2024) - International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM 2024) - IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI 2026) - IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI 2025) *Teaching Assistant:* - *2022 Fall*, USTC, Medical Image Computing (BMED6208P.01_152261) - *2023 Fall*, USTC, Medical Image Computing (BMED6208P.01_152261)

- *2024.10*, **Benchmarking Fairness in Medical Foundation Models.** IEEE International Conference on Universal Village (IEEE UV 2024)