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Healthcare

Franz Edelman Award

Keeping bias out of job applications and school admissions

In today’s world, we are becoming increasingly aware of the prevalence of bias and the significance of its impact, particularly regarding minority groups and at risk and vulnerable members of our community. In an episode of the podcast released last month, we discussed the presence of bias in rideshares, in particular a study which identified that minorities and supporters of the LGBTQ community are twice as likely to have their rides canceled as Caucasians. In this episode, we will continue to explore additional examples of bias and their impact, as well as the role that operations research and analytics plays…

Tags: bias, fairness, Georgia Tech, job applications, metrics, school admissions, Swati Gupta

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Take me out to the (computer) ball game!

Even as we are beginning to see a lessening of restrictions in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, I think many of us are still processing the myriad ways it has impacted our lives this year. As spring comes to an end and summer is upon us, we are keenly feeling the absence of many of our favorite activities, like concerts, barbeques, parades, and for the purposes of this episode, an afternoon spent with a hotdog and a beer at a baseball game. For those of you who may be feeling these losses particularly keenly, we wanted to share a fun…

Tags: baseball hall of fame, Gary Cokins, sports analytics

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Will your ride be cancelled? Fighting bias in rideshares

I think many of our listeners will agree, that while the timeline to safely do so remains uncertain, we are all looking forward to a day when we can once again spend time with friends on a night out, head to a movie theater or a favorite museum, or frankly, do anything outside the house. When the time comes, people will once again rely on rideshare platforms like Uber or Lyft to get them where they need to go, much as they did prior to the coronavirus pandemic. What they may not know, is the role that bias based on…

Tags: American University, Chris Parker, Indiana University, Jorge Mejia, Management Science, rideshare bias

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Preparing for a second wave of COVID-19

It seems surreal to think that at the start of this year, few of us were aware of the threat of a novel new virus gaining momentum overseas. Now, only a few months later, the coronavirus or COVID-19, is a global pandemic, the effects of which have impacted nearly every aspect of our day-to-day lives. As the number of cases in the U.S. continued to grow, states enacted restrictions to enforce social distancing efforts, with stay at home orders, business closures, and for businesses deemed essential, establishing guidelines to ensure customer and employee safety. At the heart of this was…

Tags: coronavirus, COVID-19, flatten the curve, infection rates, Julie Swann, North Carolina State University, social distancing

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The dangers of overcrowding: Helping ICUs preserve essential bed space

As the coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic continues, supply shortages are something we are all facing, none with a more critical impact than those involving hospitals and healthcare workers. We’ve heard of the shortages of personal protective equipment or PPE, like face masks and gloves, and the lack of an adequate number of ventilators for the most seriously ill patients. But as the number of cities and communities impacted by the virus continues to grow, what do hospitals do when there are more patients in their ICUs than beds to hold them along with the accompanying monitoring and life-saving equipment? To…

Tags: Frances Sneddon, ICU, SIMUL8, simulation modeling software

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The path to success for women in IT

We’d like to think that our performance at work, regardless of our sex, is the primary deciding factor in deciding whether or not we are recognized for our work with a promotion. You do a good job, you earn recognition, right? Unfortunately, according to new research in the INFORMS journal Information Systems Research in certain fields, this might not actually be the case. For this episode, I am joined by Nishtha Langer, professor with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to discuss her study “Onwards and Upwards? An Empirical Investigation of Gender and Promotions in IT Services.”

Tags: equal pay, equal rights, equality, IT, Nishtha Langer bias, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, women

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Speaking the language of healthcare data

Imagine a world where you could access your healthcare data the same way you access your financial data. A world where you get notifications on your iPhone when lab test results are ready and where you can use third party apps to seamlessly track chronic conditions. That world now exists thanks to the health data standard recently mandated by the federal government. Joining me to shed some light on the role that operations research is playing in this development are IBM data scientists Dr. Nasim Lari and Will Rosenfeld, both members of the INFORMS Washington, D.C. chapter, where Nasim serves…

Tags: data privacy, data security, FHIR, healthcare, healthcare data, IBM, Nasim Lari, Will Rosenfeld

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Data privacy vs. data security: Overcoming our fear of sharing data

We are living in an increasingly digital world. Never has this been more apparent than our current reality of social distancing, as we are forced to commit to conducting more and more of our daily lives online, from business meetings, to shopping, to interacting with our families. In this new normal, questions and concerns regarding maintaining the security and privacy of our data have moved even further into the spotlight. For this episode I am joined by Rachel Cummings, professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech to discuss the relationship between data…

Tags: 2020 U.S. Census, coronavirus, COVID-19, data privacy, data security, data sharing, Georgia Tech, pandemic, Rachel Cummings

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Got a case of “The Mondays”? Your organization might too.

Many of us might admit that it can take us a bit of time to get into the swing of things on a Monday morning. This is often referred to as a case of “The Mondays” or the “Monday Blues.” But does the same hold true for businesses as a whole, with significant performance variations occurring based on what day of the week it is? To take a deeper dive into this topic, I am joined by Oliver Yao, professor and association dean of graduate programs of the College of Business at Lehigh University to discuss his research recently published…

Tags: Lehigh University, Monday Effect, Oliver Yao, supply chain

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Creating better YouTube content for patients with chronic disorders

Many of us rely on YouTube for instruction on a wide range of interest areas, from beauty tutorials, to a new recipe, to basic DIY home improvement projects, and more. But what if YouTube tutorials could improve our lives in a different way, by helping us better understand and manage our health and wellness? Joining me for this episode is Rema Padman, trustees professor of management science and healthcare informatics at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, whose research has identified guidelines for organizations to provide YouTube video content for individuals with chronic health conditions…

Tags: Carnegie Mellon University, diabetes, healthcare, Rema Padman, YouTube

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