Category: student 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 »

On Friday, September 29th, Center for Healthcare Engineering & Patient Safety (CHEPS) alumnus Ryan Chen participated in the Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) 101 Career Seminar Series hosted by the University of Michigan’s IOE Department.

Having graduated from U-M in 2014 with dual degrees in IOE and Euphonium Performance, Chen told students and faculty about the formative experiences he had as a student at Michigan. Chen began working at CHEPS shortly after its 2011 founding, noting that he still keeps in touch with some of the friends he made here years ago.

“One of the places I really got to learn a lot from was CHEPS, and that is where I really formed myself as an intellect at Michigan.” 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 »

CHEPS alumus and fourth-year medical school student Bassel Salka recently published a research article on irrigation practices during ureteroscopy (the process of looking into the ureters and kidneys using a camera) in Thereapeutic Advances in Urology. The article, titled “Under pressure: irrigation practice patterns during flexible ureteroscopy,” investigates the challenges of irrigation during these procedures and consults surgeons across the globe on their methods in hopes of bettering patient outcomes. Our CHEPS alumni continue to impress and astound in the world of medicine!

— Written by Cole Weber, CHEPS Student

Shun Akiyama, a Computer Science and Engineering student at U-M, reflects on his summer at CHEPS.

Hannah Eller, a Biomedical Engineering student at U-M, shares her experiences working to improve healthcare quality as a CHEPS researcher.

When I was a junior in high school, my grandmother was hospitalized for a transient ischemic attack, more commonly known as a mini-stroke. As someone without a big family history of strokes, her care team was concerned over the rhythms in her heart. Because of this, she had a surgically implanted device called a loop recorder that would measure her heart rhythms and report them to a small device that would sit next to her bed. I had never seen or heard of anything like this little device. Continue Reading »