Category: Blog

Setting the Stage: A Different Approach to Healthcare

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Chidimma Udegbunam, a pre-med student at U-M, shares her experience working both as a Certified Nurse Assistant and a healthcare researcher.

Chidimma wearing a blue scrub top, gray zip sweatshirt, and backwards "Nurse Aide" badge.
Chidimma seated with another CHEPS student at an open laptop.

When I was notified that I’d been invited to work at the University of Michigan’s Center for Healthcare Engineering & Patient Safety (CHEPS), I was incredibly excited…but also slightly horrified.

As a student on the pre-medical track, I wasn’t quite sure what Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) actually entailed, and I definitely wasn’t an engineer. But at the very least, I knew I could help with the “healthcare” and “patient safety” parts. Pre-med students are expected to gain experience in direct patient care roles, which can take multiple forms: phlebotomist, medical assistant (MA), emergency medical technician (EMT), etc. Continue Reading »

Small World After All

Posted on by buckh

“I’ve known Hooman was Persian ever since I first heard [his] name at CHEPS, but I’ve only ever spoken to him briefly on my way in and out of the building. But this semester, we’ve been talking more than usual because we’re working on a data set. While we were reviewing the information and creating the document on the first day of the summer semester, he asked a few questions about Iran.”

Sogand Soghrati and Hooman Niktafar smiling at the camera while standing in front of a whiteboard with writing on it.

“Since he was already aware of my university during undergrad and master’s, he inquired as to my location within the city. His enthusiasm when asking ‘Which street did you live on?’ Continue Reading »

A Culture of Support: Interviewing CHEPSter TJ Bryan

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TJ Bryan, a University of Michigan senior majoring in Industrial Operations Engineering, has a lot to look forward to—his April graduation, his May wedding, and soon, his big move to Orange County, California. Having been with CHEPS since May 2022, he recently reflected on the most meaningful part of his experience as an undergraduate researcher: the people.

TJ Bryan and Amy Cohn smiling at the camera while standing in front of a dark blue wall.
TJ Bryan and Amy Cohn

Supportive Staff

“I started at CHEPS because of Amy,” TJ said, referring to Dr. Amy Cohn, the Faculty Director of CHEPS and Chief Transformation Officer of Michigan Medicine. “Amy was definitely one of, if not my favorite, professors that I’ve had…she was very enthusiastic about what she did.” Continue Reading »

New Buddy? No Problem!

Posted on by buckh
When Fumiya Abe-Nornes joined CHEPS as a student researcher in May 2019, he quickly realized the brilliance of his peers.

“Being a newbie in a research group of a couple dozen, it was definitely intimidating—especially feeling like I wasn’t smart enough or that I wouldn’t be able to contribute in a meaningful way,” he shared. “But having my buddy, Justin, helped a lot.”

Justin and Fumi were paired through the CHEPS Buddy System, which aimed to connect students from various projects and strengthen bonds throughout the group.

“[Justin] took me out to lunch and we chatted about CHEPS, interests, life, you name it. Continue Reading »

SI North to Singapore: Surg Comp Takes on WSC 2022

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In December of 2022, Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety (CHEPS) staff member Fumiya Abe-Nornes and students Rachel Zhang and Nathan Smith got to experience their dream as research assistants: Presenting at an international conference on their work.

For the last few years, the Surgical Competency project team at CHEPS researched the limitations of current surgical residency training guidelines. At the project’s conception in 2019, Fumiya Abe-Nornes, an undergraduate student studying biophysics at the time, worked closely with fellow CHEPSters and clinical collaborators Drs. Rishindra Reddy, Brian George, and Angela Thelen, to better understand the concern of the readiness of graduating surgeons to independently perform surgeries.

Continue Reading »

Laura Ely, Industrial & Operations Engineering Masters – Healthcare Engineering & Patient Safety concentration

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Hi! I’m Prachi Fozdar, a Business and Mechanical Engineering undergraduate working as a communications & marketing intern here at CHEPS. I was recently able to interview Laura Ely, a master’s student studying Industrial & Operations Engineering (IOE) with a concentration in Healthcare Engineering & Patient Safety (HEPS), to find out more about her experience in HEPS.

What did you pursue your undergrad in & how long have you been in HEPS? 
“During my undergrad, I majored in Industrial Engineering at Oregon State University (Go Beavers). I’ve now been in the Healthcare Engineering & Patient Safety Masters concentration through the IOE program for two semesters, with one semester left.” Continue Reading »

Aparna Reddy, Bio/Anthro (Pre-Med) Undergraduate

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Hi! I’m Prachi Fozdar, a Business and Engineering undergraduate working as a communications assistant at CHEPS. I was recently able to interview Aparna Reddy, an undergraduate sophomore currently on the pre-med track in LSA, to find out more about her work at CHEPS. 

How’d you get involved in CHEPS?
“Freshman year I joined another student organization, Blueprints for Pangea, with Kishor and he told me during one of the meetings about how he’s involved in CHEPS. I got really interested, so I researched CHEPS a bit more and then decided to apply.”

What made you want to join CHEPS?
“I’m really interested in the systemic components of healthcare because a lot of the research I did in high school was more computational-based. Continue Reading »

Rachel Zhang, Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate

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Hi! I’m Prachi Fozdar, a Business and Engineering undergraduate working as a communications assistant at CHEPS. I recently got the chance to interview Rachel Zhang, a junior in Biomedical Engineering on the pre-med track. Rachel started at CHEPS this past summer, making this winter her third term. 

Rachel’s story of joining CHEPS is one she describes as “a series of various connections and coincides which led to CHEPS at the same time.” While looking for a capstone project for the engineering honors program, Rachel came across CHEPS. She said, “One of my advisors, Emmett Springer, is a CHEPS alum and knew my interests in healthcare optimization and that I was looking for a capstone, so he referenced me towards CHEPS. Continue Reading »

David Keller, Industrial & Operations Engineering Undergraduate

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Hi! I’m Prachi Fozdar, a Business and Engineering undergraduate working as a communications assistant at CHEPS. I recently had the opportunity to interview David, an undergraduate junior majoring in Industrial & Operations and Engineering and minoring in Computer Science, to find out more about his work at CHEPS.

Keller Student PhotoHow’d you find out about CHEPS and get involved in it?
“So, it was actually during the career fair my sophomore year in the fall. I talked to Jim Molloy from Citi, and he started talking about Professor Cohn, the various classes she teaches and mentioned how CHEPS is a wonderful program to be in. Continue Reading »

Caroline Hirth, Industrial & Operations Engineering Undergraduate

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Caroline Hirth

I actually learned about CHEPS through some family connections. My dad (Hi dad!) works in the School of Public Health at UM and has known Amy Cohn, the Faculty Director of CHEPS, for several years. When my older sister, Lauren (Hey Lauren, too!), started out as an undergrad at Michigan, she met Amy through my dad and discovered the wonderful organization that is CHEPS. As a BME student, she ended up working at CHEPS for several years during her undergrad career and later encouraged me to check it out. 

When I was a freshman in the College of Engineering and my major was undecided (like, very undecided), it was Lauren who convinced me to set up a meeting with Amy to learn more about IOE. Continue Reading »