Category: Blog

On October 30th, the Providing Better Healthcare through Systems Engineering seminar series had the privilege of hosting two distinguished speakers, Molly Stout, MD, MS and Alex Peahl, MD, MSc, who shed light on a critical topic: “Improving Access and Overcoming Barriers to Maternal Care Services.”

As a physician-scientist, Division Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine, and Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at U-M, Stout shows great passion for optimizing prenatal care with an emphasis on those who need it most. Stout’s work is driven by a dedication to ensuring the well-being of birthing people and infants with the ultimate goal of making prenatal care accessible and effective for everyone. Continue Reading »

Cole Weber, a Biomedical Engineering student at U-M, muses on his motivation for working in healthcare, remaining true to himself, and the power of parental support.

At birth, I almost killed my mom. During the fifty-six hour labor in a Wisconsin blizzard (once again, sorry Mom), she started to hemorrhage to the point where the doctor was flabbergasted she was still awake. If you know my mom, you wouldn’t be surprised. However, through medical intervention, my mom was okay, and her first child—a beautiful baby boy, I may humbly add—was born.

After a doctor in training was thrown to the floor because they tried to turn my neck the wrong way, almost killing me, my mom started to notice that I wasn’t breathing correctly. Continue Reading »

Yueyun Xia, an Industrial and Operations Engineering student at U-M, reflects on her summer at CHEPS.

Looking back at my time at CHEPS this past summer, all of the memories swirl in my head: my handwriting on the whiteboards for the optimization model, meetings with collaborators, lunch and learns…but there are a few special moments that I’ll cherish most of all.

Amy’s chocolate

Professor Amy Cohn is one of the biggest reasons I joined CHEPS. She (and the sense of community she helps create) is my everyday motivation for work. We are encouraged to share our knowledge, collaborate between project teams, and explore new things. Continue Reading »

Aparna Reddy, a Public Health student at U-M, reflects on her experience traveling to Toronto, Canada to present her CHEPS research at the 2023 INFORMS Healthcare Conference.

My name is Aparna Reddy, and I am a rising senior at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Last month I had the opportunity to attend the 2023 INFORMS Healthcare Conference in Toronto, Canada, where I presented our work at CHEPS in a talk called “Modeling Resource Needs for Screening and Specialty Care in the U.S. Veterans Healthcare System.”

INFORMS (the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) is an international professional organization for practitioners in the field of operations research. Continue Reading »

Maddy Heyer, a Computer Science and Engineering student at U-M, shares about what she has learned from her summer at CHEPS.

“We had a young patient in critical condition today, but thankfully we got them stabilized.”

“Creating this month’s schedule was such a headache.”

“My feet are already aching and I have two more twelves this week!”

With aunts and cousins who are all nurses, hospital stories have been a constant topic of discussion during our family gatherings. Just a few months ago when they asked about my summer plans, I told them I would be working at the Center for Healthcare Engineering & Patient Safety (CHEPS). Continue Reading »