Panel discussion :: Wednesday, July 7th

The role of operational research in responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The panel will discuss the role that operational research and mathematical modelling have played in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion will focus on lessons learned for better integration of operational research into public health and the wider healthcare system to address future crises.

The panel will be chaired by Prof. Mike Carter of the University of Toronto. More info here.

Flyer

Panel members

Prof. Christine Currie a Professor of Operational Research in Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton and a member of the Centre for Operational Research, Management Science and Information Systems (CORMSIS). She is Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Simulation. Her research interests include simulation optimization, applications of simulation in health care, optimal pricing, and disaster management. More info here.

Dr. Réka Gustafson leads the integration of population and public health promotion, planning, and prevention across the clinical programs of the Provincial Health Services Authority of British Columbia. In addition, she is Deputy Provincial Health Officer and provides leadership to the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control. Réka completed her MD at the University of British Columbia and holds a fellowship in Public Health and Preventative Medicine. Before her current position, she practiced public health as a Medical Health Officer in Vancouver Coastal Health Authority for over fifteen years. More info here.

Prof. Fermin Mallor is Director of the Centre for Quantitative Methods for Uplifting the Performance of Health Systems (q-UPHS) and Professor of Statistics and Operations Research at the Public University of Navarra. He leads a team of researchers developing simulation models of critical care and hospital admissions to support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. More info here.

Prof. Giovanni Righini is founder of the OptLab and Professor of Operations Research in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Milano. In healthcare, he worked especially in the area of the management of Emergency Medical Services in collaboration with various EMS in Lombardy. Currently, he worked with hospitals in Northern Italy to develop an optimization model for re-opening operating rooms after the first wave of the pandemic. More info here.