Seminar: Analytics for Social Good and Perspectives on Practice-focused Research

SEMINAR 

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING 

Analytics for Social Good and Perspectives on Practice-focused Research

by

Turgay Ayer

(Health & Humanitarian Systems at Georgia Tech)

Abstract:

In this talk, I will present an overview of several research projects that are focused on data-driven practices, and share my insights on the essential elements for successful practice-focused research. More specifically, I will describe three projects. The first one aims to enhance blood collection operations at the American Red Cross. The second one deals with allocating limited hepatitis C treatments in prisons, while the third project examines effective COVID-19 management strategies.

Bio: 

Turgay Ayer is the Virginia C. and Joseph C. Mello Endowed Chair and the Director for Healthcare Analytics and Business Intelligence in the Center for Health & Humanitarian Systems at Georgia Tech. In addition, Dr. Ayer holds a courtesy appointment at Emory Medical School and is a co-founder at Value Analytics Labs (www.valueanalyticslabs.com), a healthcare consultancy and software solutions company.

Ayer’s research focus is analytics for healthcare, social good, and socially responsible operations. Ayer’s research findings have been published in top-tier business, engineering, medical, and health policy journals and are widely covered in popular media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Fox Tv, Washington Post, NPR, and US News, among others. Research by Ayer and co-authors has made a policy impact by changing and improving blood collection operations in the entire nation by the American Red Cross, by influencing lung cancer drug pricing and coverage decisions in the U.S. and U.K., by changing distribution strategies for scarce hepatitis C treatment drugs in correctional health systems, and by changing how medical surplus products are allocated to the developing world by a major medical surplus recovery organization. In support of his research, Ayer has received over $3 million grant funding and several awards for his work, including an NSF CAREER Award (2015), first place in MSOM Responsible Research in Operations Management (2019), first place in the MSOM Best Practice-Based Research Competition (2017), and INFORMS Franz Edelman Laureate Award (2017).

Ayer is actively involved in INFORMS, the largest international association of operations research and analytics professionals. He is a past president of the INFORMS Health Applications Society and currently serves as a department editor at Operations Research (“Real-World OR Innovations Department, starting from Jan 1, 2024) and M&SOM (“Practice-Focused Research”). He received a B.S. in industrial engineering from Sabanci University in Istanbul, Turkey, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Date: Friday, December 22, 2023

Time: 15:00-16:00

Place: Engineering Building, South Campus, VYKM 2