1. Last Chance to Register: Professional Certificate in Health & Humanitarian Supply Chain Management, May 9-14, 2016

2. Georgia Tech Names CHHS Interdisciplinary Research Center (IRC)

3. Save the Date: 8th Annual Health & Humanitarian Logistics Conference, August 29-31 at Georgia Tech

4. Disaster Response and Mitigation Forum Addresses Collaboration Across Government, NGOs, and Industry

5. Directors Pinar Keskinocak and Julie Swann Win 2016 Denning Award for Global Engagement

6. Senior Design Project Implemented at Emory Winship Cancer Institute Reduces Patient Wait Times

7. Pinar Keskinocak Elected INFORMS Fellow for 2015 Class

The 2016 class will bring together over 30 participants from 17 different countries around the world who are active in global health and humanitarian response and development. Practitioners come from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government, private sector, academia and other organizations to build skills in decision making in preparedness, response operations planning, and system design and to link the challenges and decision-making tradeoffs they face in practice with the systematic approaches, tools, and techniques presented.

To read a summary of the 2015 HHSCM course, click here.

INTERESTED IN SUPPORTING A SCHOLARSHIP?
CHHS is fortunate to provide a limited number of scholarships for participants from NGOs and developing countries, made possible through the generosity of The UPS Foundation, Andrea L. Laliberte, Pete Quinones, and Richard E. and Charlene O. Zalesky. For information about the scholarships, to sponsor scholarships, or for more information about the 2016 courses, please visit our website or email hhscenter@isye.gatech.edu.

Georgia Tech recently named CHHS one of four new Phase I Interdisciplinary Research Centers (IRCs). Each IRC brings together researchers from different disciplines across campus to address topics of strategic importance to Georgia Tech, promoting collaborative research and coordinating activities aimed at large external funding opportunities. CHHS involves more than 30 affiliated faculty and scientists across Georgia Tech from all colleges and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). CHHS will also become the primary leader on campus in the area of Health Systems, as the former Health Systems Institute (HSi) will now be incorporated into CHHS.

"Being named one of the first Interdisciplinary Research Centers is both an honor and an opportunity to further the impact of Georgia Tech in these important areas," said co-director Julie Swann. The long-term mission of CHHS is to be a premier research and educational center that advances science and evidence-based approaches to meet the aim of improving population outcomes locally, nationally, and worldwide; reducing per capita costs in the system; and improving opportunities and sustainability of the systems.

"We have many short- to medium-term goals as well," explains co-director Pinar Keskinocak. "In outreach, we want to grow the number of affiliated faculty and scientists from Georgia Tech, bring in new collaborating partners from external organizations, organize several events around campus to build collaborations and knowledge, and reach out to Georgia Tech alumni affiliated with health or humanitarian systems."

The 8th annual Conference on Health & Humanitarian Logistics will focus on "Transforming Health & Humanitarian Systems," featuring plenary panels, and interactive workshops on a variety of topics related to supply chain management and logistics in global health and humanitarian response and development, as well as poster sessions on innovative research and ample opportunities for networking. Please visit the conference website for registration, poster submissions, and information about the program.
*Poster submission deadline: Friday, June 3rd, 2016.

CONFERENCE SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
The conference is made possible by generous support from The UPS Foundation. If your organization is interested in sponsoring the conference, or for other questions or topic suggestions, please e-mail humlogconf@isye.gatech.edu.

On April 27, CHHS joined the Institute for People and Technology (IPaT) at Georgia Tech to host the first “Disaster Response and Mitigation Forum” to discuss new developments in advanced science and technology to improve disaster response. The event included a keynote address from Jim Butterworth, director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMHSA) and featured two plenary panels on Government Coordination and Response and Industry Response: How to Engage the Private Sector. Speakers organizations included American Red Cross, Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency (AFCEMA), CDC, FEMA, Georgia Power, UPS, and Walmart. To learn more about the event, contact Meghan Smithgall at msmithgall@isye.gatech.edu.

The Denning Award for Global Engagement recognizes Georgia Tech faculty who have demonstrated sustained outstanding achievement and commitment to the advancement of the Institute's global engagement. CHHS was recently named one of the first Interdisciplinary Research Centers (IRC) at Georgia Tech, touching on areas such as disaster mitigation and planning, basic humanitarian needs such as food or water, and health systems including healthcare delivery, disaster prevention or management, and public policy.

The global visibility that HHS has brought to GT is substantial and far-reaching, and through the annual conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics, the professional education certificate program, and a variety of project-based courses that bring a global perspective to degree- based students, the CHHS reach has extended to over 85 countries, across 6 continents, where course and conference participants have lived and worked and across the more than 200 collaborating organizations working to save and improve lives.

Patients at Emory Winship have been experiencing long wait times resulting in low patient satisfaction scores. As part of the Fall 2014 ISyE Senior Design project at Georgia Tech, a team working with the Emory Winship Cancer Institute Ambulatory Infusion Center (AIC) developed a visibility tool which has since been implemented at the Winship Institute and has made a significant impact on the reduction of patient wait time.
After interviewing and shadowing staff and patients, collecting data, and conducting time studies, the ISyE team proposed that improved workflow, increased ability to know where patients were located during the various phases of the treatments, and a better system to notify nurses when chairs were available would shorten patient wait times. The team focused on improving process flow, communication, and visibility throughout the center, and deliverables consisted of a simulation with a user interface, a Real-time Visibility tool, and a list of recommendations and policy changes, several of which were implemented. Patient wait times were reduced significantly, increasing patient satisfaction and allowing more patients to be treated, bringing in an additional $1.2 million annual profit.

“The impact of this [project] has been huge,” said Catherine Parker RN, MSN, OCN, the unit director at the Infusion Center. “The development and implementation of the visibility tool has helped the triage RNs significantly by providing a technological solution for what was extremely manual and inefficient. The tool has also made it possible on extremely short-staffed days to utilize only one triage RN, which helped the overall staffing for the team by adding the second triage RN back to direct care.” Likewise, Claudia Giddings, RN., remarked: ““The Real-time Visibility Tool has been one of the best tools I have ever worked with here at Winship. As a triage nurse, it has cut down on time by more than 30-40 percent.”

Students Sung Keun Baek, Xiaoyang Li, Allen Liu, James Micali, Ji Su Park, Mengnan Shen, Yunjie Sun, and Emilie Wurmser, guided by their faculty advisor William W. George Chair Pinar Keskinocak took home first prize in the Senior Design competition for their work improving patient wait time reduction in the Fall 2014.

Propose a project for senior design students or e-mail hhscenter@isye.gatech.edu for more information. For recent Publications by HHS Center co-directors and collaborators, please visit HHS "Publications."

Pinar Keskinocak, Co-director of the Center for Health & Humanitarian Systems (CHHS) and William W. George Chair of the School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) and ADVANCE Professor in the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech was named an INFORMS Fellow for the Class of 2015 for contributions to the applications of OR/MS in health and humanitarian systems and distinguished service to the INFORMS community.

INFORMS serves the scientific and professional needs of Analytics Professionals and Operations Researchers including educators, scientists, students, managers, analysts, and consultants. The Institute serves as a focal point for analytics and O.R. professionals, permitting them to communicate with each other and reach out to other professional societies, as well as the varied clientele of the profession's research and practice.