INFORMS Chicago Chapter is pleased to host a webinar by Dr. Sanjay Mehrotra on Thursday June 18 from 4pm - 5pm CDT. We would like to invite you to join us as Dr. Mehrotra will share his latest research related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Register here.Title: Modeling Supply Chain Decisions for Resource Sharing with an Application to Ventilator Allocation to Combat COVID-19
Abstract: We present a stochastic optimization model for allocating and sharing a critical resource in the case of a pandemic. The demand for different entities peaks at different times and an initial inventory for a central agency is to be allocated. The entities (states) may share the critical resource with a different state under a risk‐averse condition. The model was applied to study the allocation of ventilator inventory in the COVID‐19 pandemic by FEMA to different U.S. states. Results were generated and reported for different demand scenarios (average, above average, etc), including a worst‐case where the demand is at the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval of state needs prediction from a prominent model. An important finding of this study is that a central agency (FEMA) can act as a coordinator for sharing critical resources that are in short supply over time to add efficiency in the system. Moreover, through properly managing risk‐aversion of different entities (states) additional efficiency can be gained. An additional implication is that ramping up production early in the planning cycle allows reducing shortfall significantly. The optimal timing of this production ramp‐up consideration can be based on a cost‐benefit analysis.
Speaker: Dr. Sanjay Mehrotra
Director, Center for Engineering and Health
Professor, Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences
McCormick School of Engineering
Professor (courtesy), Department of Medical Social Sciences
Feinberg School of Medicine
Northwestern University
Sanjay Mehrotra is the director of Center for Engineering at Health at Northwestern University. He is widely known for his methodological contributions to research in mathematical optimization that has spanned from linear, mixed integer, stochastic, multi-objective, and risk adjusted robust optimization. His healthcare research includes topics in predictive modeling, budgeting, hospital operations, and policy modeling using modern operations research tools. He has been the chair of the INFORMS Optimization Society, and has also served on INFORMS board of directors. He is a Fellow of INFORMS.
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Ziteng Wang
Assistant Professor
Northern Illinois Universtiy
DeKalb IL
zwang3@niu.edu------------------------------