Happy Holidays from CHHS! 

Our team at CHHS wishes you and yours happy holidays and a wonderful new year! We sincerely thank you for your continued support of the Center in 2021. If you are interested in becoming a Lifetime Friend of CHHS, please visit our website to learn more. We look forward to continuing our collaborations in the new year! 

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Institute for People and Technology Fellowships

ISyE Ph.D. student Daniel Kim was awarded a fellowship from the Georgia Institute of Technology Institute for People and Technology (IPaT). The fellowship aims to connect students across Georgia Tech with IPaT industry mentors and collaborators. Grant applications were based on IPaT's four pillars: Lifelong Health and Well-Being, Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation, Shaping the Human-Technology Frontier, and Platforms and Services for Socio-Technical Systems. Congratulations, Daniel!

George Family Foundation Fellowships

The George Family Foundation, established by Georgia Institute of Technology alumnus Bill George and his wife Penny, through IPaT, recently awarded fellowship grants to ISyE students Abigail Kettle and Daniel Kim. Recipients of the grants ($3,750 each) were selected based on academic strength and commitment to health systems as a domain of study and/or sustained career commitment. Congratulations to the awardees!

ISyE alumnus Evren Ozkaya (Ph.D. IE 2008) was recently appointed to the ISyE Advisory Board. Evren is also a Lifetime Friend of CHHS. Congratulations and thank you for your continued support, Evren! 

Ph.D. student Shixiang Zhu's work "Early Detection of Covid-19 Hotspots Using Spatio-Temporal Data" explores prediction of counties in the U.S. which may lead to Covid-19 outbreaks. The results from this work can inform decision-making of public health agencies to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. Co-authors include CHHS Professors Pinar Keskinocak and Yao Xie. 

Ph.D. student Daniel Kim studied effective resource allocation between two Covid-19 vaccine types subject to supply chain shortages. Co-authors on the paper, "Resource Allocation for Different Types of Vaccines Against Covid-19: Tradeoffs and Synergies between Efficacy and Reach," include CHHS Director Pinar Keskinocak, ISyE alumna Pelin Pekgun (Ph.D. 2007), and Dr. Inci Yildirim from the Yale University School of Medicine.

Melike Yildirim (Ph.D. IE 2021) developed a natural history model to study detection and treatment strategies for depression. Collaborators on the work ("DIP: Natural History Model for Major Depression with Incidence and Prevalence") include Professors Pinar Keskinocak and Julie Swann.

Ph.D. Student Akane Fujimoto (along with CHHS Professor Pinar Keskinocak and Dr. Inci Yildirim from the Yale School of Medicine) recently published her work "Significance of SARS-CoV-2 Specific Antibody Testing During Covid-19 Vaccine Allocation." The work explores the effectiveness of using antibody testing to identify individuals most in need of Covid-19 vaccinations. Akane is currently an ORISE Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The 13th annual Health and Humanitarian Logistics (HHL) Conference took place virtually on September 20-22, 2021. The conference, organized by the Humanitarian Logistics Association and CHHS, addressed sustainable local procurement, health and supply chain capacity strengthening, and last-mile transportation. Each day of the conference focused on a different region of the world (Middle East/Africa, Asia, and the Americas) under the theme of building efficient supply chain connections. We are grateful to The UPS Foundation for their continued support of the annual conference and CHHS activities.

CHHS Director Pinar Keskinocak was honored as the 2021 WORMS Award for the Advancement of Women in OR/MS. The award, presented at the INFORMS Annual Meeting, is given to an individual who has "contributed significantly to the advancement and recognition of women in the field of operations research and the management sciences." Congratulations, Dr. Keskinocak! Read more about her work and impact here.

CHHS has continued their partnership with the French Consulate in organizing France-Atlanta, an event series focused on fostering transatlantic collaboration between France and the United States. This year's series has included a panel entitled Public Health Logistics and Supply Chain Management in the Covid-19 Era and Beyond moderated by Professor Mathieu Dahan. More about France-Atlanta 2021 events can be found here.

Four Georgia Tech faculty members have been selected as fellows comprising the first cohort in the Faculty Executive Leadership Academy (FELA). The two-year program will build on participants' existing leadership experience. Benefits provided to fellows by the program include participation in high-impact projects, meeting with and shadowing Georgia Tech executive leaders, and access to leadership development resources. 

Professors Nicoleta Serban (ISyE) and Jaydev Desai (Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering) have been named the inaugural Peterson Professors by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The professorships will support interdisciplinary collaboration among Georgia Tech, Emory, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta with the goal of improving pediatric healthcare.

Professor Lindsey Bullinger (Georgia Tech School of Public Policy) has recently published new research in several exciting areas! Her recent work includes advancements on the subjects of Covid-19 and family violence, Medicaid, and substance use policy. Dr. Bullinger's publications and additional background can be found here.