INFORMS HEALTH
NEWSLETTER
informs
Institute for Operations Research
and the Management Sciences
Fall 2008
Published by the Health Applications Section of the Institute for Operations
Research and the Management Sciences
Visit us online at http://health-appl.section.informs.org
Table of Contents
Officers of the INFORMS Health Applications Section
Past Presidents of the INFORMS Health Applications Section
News from the Annual Business Meeting: Washington, D.C.
The Bonder Scholarship for Research in Health Services
The William Pierskalla Best Paper Award
Message from the Outgoing President
Report from the Editor of Health Care Management Science
New Book Alert
The Health Applications Section ListServ
Conference Announcements
Officers of the INFORMS Health Applications Section for 2008
Chair:
Jay Rosenberger, Ph.D.
Industrial & Manufacturing Sys. Eng.
University of Texas at Arlington
Email: jrosenbe@uta.edu
URL: http://ieweb.uta.edu/jrosenberger
Phone: (817) 272-5787
Office Term: 01/01/2008 - 12/31/2008
Council:
 Gino Lim
Department of Industrial Engineering
University of Houston
E211 Engineering Building 2
Houston, TX 77204
E-mail: ginolim@uh.edu
Term Expires: 12/31/2008
Vice Chair / Chair Elect:
Brian Denton
Edward P Fitts Department of Industrial &
Systems Engineering
North Carolina State University
Email: bdenton@ncsu.edu
Phone: (919) 513-1690 (Work)
Office Term: 01/01/2008 - 12/31/2008
 Sherry Oh
Department of Operations Management
Haskayne School of Business
University of Calgary
2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, Alberta
Canada T2N 1N4
E-mail: sherry.oh@haskayne.ucalgary.ca
Term Expires: 12/31/2008
Treasurer:
Dionne Aleman
Department of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering
University of Toronto
Email: aleman@mie.utoronto.ca
Phone: (416) 978-6780
Office Term: 01/01/2008 - 12/31/2008
 Eva Lee
School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0205
Phone: (404) 894-4962
Fax: (404) 894-2301
Email: evalee@isye.gatech.edu
Term Expires: 12/31/2009
Secretary:
Keith Willoughby
Department of Finance and Management Science
University of Saskatchewan
Email: willoughby@edwards.usask.ca
Phone: (306) 966-2128
Office Term: 01/01/2008 - 12/31/2008
 James C. Benneyan, Ph.D.
Director, Quality & Productivity Laboratory
Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
334 Snell Engineering Center
Northeastern University, Boston MA 02115
Phone: (617) 373-2975
Fax: (617) 373-2921
Email: benneyan@coe.neu.edu
Term Expires: 12/31/2009
 Nan Kong
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
Email: nkong@purdue.edu
Phone: 765-496-2467
Term Expires: 12/31/2009
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
Past Presidents of the INFORMS Health Applications Section





Julie Ivy
Department of Industrial & Systems
Engineering
North Carolina State University
Murray Côté
Department of Health Services
Research, Management and Policy
University of Florida
Allen Holder
Department of Mathematics
Trinity University
Amy Wilson
Division of Health Services Research
and Policy
University of Minnesota
John Blake
Department of Industrial Engineering
Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS

Liam O’Neill
Policy Analysis and Management
Cornell University

Larry Shuman
School of Engineering
University of Pittsburgh
INFORMS Health Newsletter

Doug Samuelson
InfoLogix, Inc.

Sandra Potthoff
Department of Health Care
Management
University of Minnesota

Yasar A. Ozcan
David G. Williamson, Jr., Institute for
Health Studies
Virginia Commonwealth University

David L. Zalkind
Department of Management Science
George Washington University

Vicki Smith-Daniels
Department of Management
Arizona State University

Farrokh Alemi
The College of Nursing and Health
Sciences
George Mason University

Harvey Wolfe
Department 0f Industrial Engineering
University of Pittsburgh
3
Fall 2008
Notes from the Annual Business Meeting: Washington, D.C., 2008
This year’s annual meeting of the Health Applications Section was held at the annual
INFORMS meeting in Washington, D.C. last fall. There were about 80 people in
attendance, making it one of our largest meetings ever. Besides the wonderful social
atmosphere, highlights of the meeting included the announcement of the Bonder
Scholarship and the Pierskalla Prize winners, and the election of the new section officers for
2009 (see below for details). A huge thank you to one and all for your contributions to our
section. We can be justifiably proud of hosting 48 sessions at the 2008 INFORMS
meetings. See you in San Diego in 2009!
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
Bonder Scholarship
The seventh annual Bonder Scholarship was presented to Minsun Kim from the University of
Washington. Congratulations Minsun!
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
Pierskalla Award
The winners of the 2008 Pierskalla competition were Wanpracha Art Chaovalitwongse, Ya-Ju
Fan, and Rajesh Sachdeo (Rutgers University) with their paper entitled “Novel Optimization
Models for Abnormal Brain Activity Classification.” Congratulations to the winners!
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
Welcome to the new Officers of the INFORMS Health Applications
Section for 2009
Chair:
Brian Denton
Edward P Fitts Department of Industrial &
Systems Engineering
North Carolina State University
Email: bdenton@ncsu.edu
Phone: (919) 513-1690 (Work)
Office Term: 01/01/2009 - 12/31/2009
Council:
 Eva Lee
School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0205
Phone: (404) 894-4962
Email: evalee@isye.gatech.edu
Term Expires: 12/31/2009
Vice Chair / Chair Elect:
Dionne Aleman
Department of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering
University of Toronto
Email: aleman@mie.utoronto.ca
Phone: (416) 978-6780
Office Term: 01/01/2009 - 12/31/2009
 James C. Benneyan, Ph.D.
Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
334 Snell Engineering Center
Northeastern University, Boston MA 02115
Phone: (617) 373-2975
Email: benneyan@coe.neu.edu
Term Expires: 12/31/2009
 Nan Kong
Treasurer:
Oguzhan Alagoz
Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering
University of Wisconsin
Email: alagoz@engr.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 890-0399
Office Term: 01/01/2009 - 12/31/2009
Secretary:
John Osborn
Mayo Clinic
Email: osborn.john@mayo.edu
Phone: (507) 255-6478
Office Term: 01/01/2009 - 12/31/2009
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
Email: nkong@purdue.edu
Phone: (765) 496-2467
Term Expires: 12/31/2009
 Jay Rosenberger, Ph.D.
Industrial & Manufacturing Sys. Eng.
University of Texas at Arlington
Email: jrosenbe@uta.edu
URL: http://ieweb.uta.edu/jrosenberger
Phone: (817) 272-5787
Term Expires: 12/31/2011
Fall 2008
Officers of the INFORMS Health Applications Section (continued)
2009 Committee Chairs:
Bonder Prize Committee:
Gino Lim
Department of Industrial Engineering
University of Houston
E211 Engineering Building 2
Houston, TX 77204
E-mail: ginolim@uh.edu
Pierskalla Prize Committee:
W. Art Chaovalitwongse
Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering
Rutgers University
96 Frelinghuysen Road
CoRE 212
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8018
voice: +1 732-445-5469
fax: +1 732-445-5467
e-mail: wchaoval@rci.rutgers.edu
Nominating Committee:
Michael Carter
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
University of Toronto
5 King’s College Road
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON M5S 3G8
Canada
E-mail: carter@mie.utoronto.ca
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
Outgoing President’s Message
Hello Everyone!
The Health Applications Section continued its rise in recognition and growth in 2008. Health
Applications again broke its record for sponsored sessions at the 2008 INFORMS Annual
Conference by hosting 48 sessions in Washington, DC. The previous record was 45 sessions, set
in 2007. We would like to thank the incoming Chair Brian Denton for his recruiting and
organizing the HAS sponsored cluster. In addition, several new members have joined HAS. Our
current membership is 379, which is significantly larger than the 313 members we had in 2007.
During the 2008 Annual Conference, Health Applications had the privilege of co-sponsoring the
3rd INFORMS Workshop on Data Mining and Health Informatics. This is an annual workshop
traditionally sponsored by the Data Mining (DM) and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Sections
and takes place on the Saturday before the Annual Conference. After the 2007 Annual
Conference, the DM/AI officers asked HAS to be co-sponsors of the Workshop in 2008, and
HAS graciously agreed noting that many of our members currently work on DM/AI related
research. As HAS Chair, I delegated the 2008 HAS Treasurer Dionne Aleman to help organize
the Workshop. It was a success and had approximately 80 attendees.
As in 2007, there were 18 papers submitted for the 2008 Pierskalla Award competition. The
committee chaired by the 2007 winners Chris Lee and Stefanos Zenios determined the top three
papers. The 2008 first place winners were Wanpracha Art Chaovalitwongse, Ya-Ju Fan, and
Rajesh Sachdeo with their paper entitled “Novel Optimization Models for Abnormal Brain
Activity Classification.” They received a $1000 honorarium and a first-place plaque. The second
place winners were Faramroze G. Engineer, Pinar Keskinocak, and Larry Pickering for their
paper “Catch-up Scheduling for Childhood Vaccination.” Ali Ekici, Pinar Keskinocak, and Julie
Swann finished third for their paper on “Pandemic Influenza Response: Food Distribution
Logistics.” The second and third place winners received award certificates. We would like to
thank Chris and Stefanos and the rest of the Pierskalla Award Committee, as well as all of those
who submitted to the competition. We would also like to thank Art Chaovalitwongse for
agreeing to chair the 2009 Pierskalla Award Committee.
There were many strong applications for the Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations
Research in Health Services. Congratulations to the 2008 winner Minsun Kim from the
University of Washington. Also we would like to thank Gino Lim who chaired the 2008 Bonder
competition and has once again agreed to chair the 2009 competition.
As I vacate my HAS Chair position, I feel comfortable knowing that the Section is in good
hands. The incoming HAS Administration is extremely qualified and energetic. The 2009 Chair
Brian Denton organized a fantastic cluster and put together a terrific incoming chair presentation
at the HAS Annual Business Meeting. The 2009 Vice Chair/Chair Elect Dionne Aleman is well
equipped to organize the 2009 cluster, having served as 2008 HAS Treasurer and having helped
organize the 2008 DM-HI Workshop. The 2009 Treasurer Oguzhan Alagoz has been an HAS
member since 2001 and is a former HAS Council Member. The 2009 Secretary John B. Osborn
is from Division of Systems & Procedures at the Mayo Clinic. I will also continue to be active in
HAS serving as member of the HAS Council until 2011.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
I was honored to serve as Chair in 2008, and I could not have had a successful term without the
help of the other 2008 HAS Officers. Brian, Dionne, and 2008 Secretary Keith Willoughby
helped manage HAS far more than their positions required. Finally, I would like to thank former
Chairs Julie Ivy and Murray Côté. Julie provided me much needed guidance when I was ViceChair in 2007 and Chair in 2008. Murray recruited me to run for this position in 2006, and it has
been a terrific experience. I strongly encourage everyone to participate in HAS.
Sincerely,
-Jay Rosenberger
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
Membership Awards, Promotions, and Publications
The Bonder Scholarship for Research in Health Services
Application deadline: June 16, 2009
The Health Applications Section of INFORMS invites applications from qualified doctoral
candidates for the Bonder Scholarship for Research in Health Services. Doctoral candidates,
particularly those at the beginning of their programs, with an interest in the application of
process modeling and operations research analysis to issues in health care design, delivery, or
operations are encouraged to apply.
Objectives:
The purpose of the Bonder Scholarship is to promote the development and
application of operations research techniques to health care design,
delivery and operations. The scholarship provides funding of $5,000US to
support the development of highly qualified individuals and promote the
interchange of ideas and the dissemination of health services research
knowledge in conjunction with INFORMS.
The Award:
The Bonder Scholarship consists of a grant of $4,000 which is intended to
provide income support and tuition reimbursement for a promising young
researcher. In addition, the award winner will be eligible for up to $1,000
of travel funding to support participation in Health Application Section
activities at the annual INFORMS conference. The tenure of the award is
one year.
Selection Criteria:
The award will be granted on the basis of excellence, innovation,
preparation, and probability of candidate’s success. Each candidate
should submit three copies of the following materials: a curriculum vita,
two letters of support, and a brief, two-page (single-spaced) summary of
his or her proposed program of research. Candidates will be evaluated on
the quality of their preparation to undertake a program of research in the
field of health care. The proposed program of research will be judged
according to its potential for practical and theoretical contribution as well
as likelihood of successful completion.
Eligibility:
All members of INFORMS currently pursuing doctoral studies are
eligible. Applications from US and international members are welcome.
Application Process: Candidates are asked to forward their applications by June 16, 2009 to the
chairman of the Bonder Scholarship review committee, Gino Lim. Gino’s
contact information is provided on page 2.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
Application Process (continued):
Notification:
All applicants will be notified by September 1, 2009 of the results of the
competition.
Background:
Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Seth Bonder has been a leader in
applying operations research to planning national defense, and a pioneer in
applying operations research methods to re-engineering health care
delivery.
In his work with the military, Dr. Bonder used operations research to
model telemedicine distant from care providers and medical expertise. He
extended these contributions to support reengineering healthcare in the
civilian sector. He has led the firm that he founded, Vector Research Inc.,
into the field of medical operations research, and created many of the
applied aspects of that discipline.
Dr. Bonder has made major contributions to the operations research
profession. He has served as president of the Operations Research Society
of America and the Military Operations Research Society, and vice
president of the International Federation of Operational Research
Societies. He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the
Patriotic Service Award from the Secretary of the Army, and the George
E. Kimball Medal. His colleagues recognized him by electing him to the
National Academy of Engineering.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
The William Pierskalla Best Paper Award
Application deadline: July 1, 2009
The Health Applications Section of INFORMS sponsors an annual competition for the
Pierskalla Award, which recognizes research excellence in the field of health care management
science. The award includes a $500 honorarium and a plaque for the best paper presented in a
Health Applications Section sponsored session at each fall INFORMS conference. The award is
named after Dr. William Pierskalla to recognize his contribution and dedication to improving
health services research and delivery through operations research. Dr. Pierskalla is currently a
professor at the Anderson School at UCLA and serves as an editor on numerous operations
research journals.
Eligibility:
Any paper presented in a session sponsored by the Health Applications
Section during the INFORMS fall annual meeting is eligible for the award.
However, to be considered for the award, a full paper must be submitted
by July 1, 2009 to the Chair of the Pierskalla Prize Committee (contact
information is provided on page 8 of this newsletter). The paper must be
presented in a HAS session at the conference to receive the award,
although the judging is based on the written paper. The paper can be a
working paper, a submitted paper, or a published paper. If desired by the
authors, the winning paper will be published in Health Care Management
Science if it has not been published or is not under review elsewhere.
Judging:
Papers are judged by a panel of four representatives from the Health
Applications Section. Each paper is judged on its 1) contribution to
operations research/management science in health care, 2) readability,
clarity and organization of the paper, 3) technical content and scope
relative to the length of the paper, and 4) originality.
The panel judging the papers reserves the right not to award a prize in any
given year. The first and second runner-ups will also receive paper
certificates by the INFORMS to recognize their accomplishments.
Application Process: Contact the current Chair of the Pierskalla Prize Committee to submit your
abstract and to present the results in a Health Applications Section
sponsored session. An electronic version of the written paper (in PDF
format) must be submitted to the Chair by July 1, 2009 to be considered
for the award. If there are multiple authors, they must state in writing how
they wish the honorarium to be distributed at the time the written paper is
submitted.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
Report from the Editor of Health Care Management Science
HCMS: The Year in Review
The year 2008 marked another successful period in the 11 year history of Health Care
Management Science. The successful publication of Volume 11 marks another remarkable
accomplishment for HCMS sponsored by intellectual capital of INFORMS Health
Applications Section members.
Editorial process of Health Care Management Science switch more than a year ago to an online system called Editorial Manager (EM). EM provides an efficient process for submissions,
review and publication of the manuscripts. We switched all existing reviewers to EM and alerted
them; however, if we missed anyone during the transition, please let me know. I also encourage
everyone to visit EM periodically and update the specialty areas, so to prevent requests for
review not in your specialization area(s). The web site of HCMS for EM is
www.editorialmanager.com/hcms/. Please also visit Journal web site at
www.springerlink.com/content/1386-9620 to observe the contents of the each volume, abstracts
and free sample issues.
In addition, we are always looking for a new special issue editor. Anyone wishing to become
special issue editor please contact Yasar A. Ozcan (ozcan@vcu.edu) to discuss the details. This
really counts on promotions!
Call for Referees
To ensure the continued success of Health Care Management Science, manuscript referees are
needed. Nominate, or volunteer yourself or a colleague, for this important activity. Included is a
form used to submit a candidate for consideration. A broad spectrum of expertise and
viewpoints is needed and useful to maintain and develop this vibrant journal. Critical review of
submitted articles ensures quality of publication. A greater number of referees can also improve
publication turn around times. Be a sport, do something fun and intellectually stimulating. Get
the jump on the latest research and results! You may register at
www.editorialmanager.com/hcms/ to become a reviewer for HCMS, please also notify me via
email: ozcan@vcu.edu.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
New Book Alert
Health Care Benchmarking and Performance Evaluation
An Assessment Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)
by Yasar A. Ozcan is published by Springer.
ISBN 978-0-387-75447-5
This book places emphasis on the application of contemporary performance and efficiency
evaluation methods, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), to create optimization-based
benchmarks including, but not limited to hospitals, physician group practices, health
maintenance organizations, nursing homes, and other health care delivery organizations. Hence,
this book will not only be useful for graduate students to learn DEA applications in health care,
but will also be an excellent reference and “how to book” for practicing administrators.
There are various evaluation methods to assess performance in health care. Each method
comes with its strengths and weaknesses. Key to performance evaluation is how to
conceptualize the service production in various health care settings, as well as appropriately
measuring the variables that would define this process. The research papers published in various
health care and operations research journals provide insight to conceptualization of service
production processes in various health care organizations. Also many research papers delineate
methods that can be used for this purpose. Depending upon when and where the research was
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
conducted, and the availability of the measures for inputs and outputs or their proxies,
researchers can determine what variables they should employ in conceptualization of the health
service production process. The nature of data availability further implies that some research
findings on performance may produce sensitive results, thus a comparison of the results using
different variables, if possible, is prudent.
Section I of this book has seven chapters that are designed to introduce performance
concepts and DEA models of efficiency most frequently used in health care. An example
consisting of ten hospitals is used throughout these seven chapters to illustrate the various DEA
models. This example includes only two output and two input variables. The intent for the
example is to create understanding of the methodology with a small number of variables and
observations. In practice, measurement of efficiency in hospitals or in other health care
organizations using DEA goes beyond the presented example and requires appropriate
conceptualization of service production in these organizations. The extensive health care
provider applications are left to the second section of this book, where DEA models with
appropriate output and input variables for various health care providers and the like are
presented.
In this first section of the book, Chapter 1 provides a brief survey of performance
evaluation methods for health care and discusses their strengths and weaknesses for performance
evaluation. These methods include ratio analysis, the least-square regression analysis, total
factor productivity (TFP) including Malmquist index, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and data
envelopment analysis (DEA).
Efficiency measures and efficiency evaluations using DEA is the subject of Chapter 2.
This chapter explains the most commonly used concepts of efficiency, such as technical, scale,
price, and allocative efficiency. Other sections of the Chapter 2 provide more detail on DEA
techniques, including model orientation (input versus output), and various frontier models such
as constant returns to scale (CRS). The hospital example and software illustration on how to run
these models provides enhanced understanding to readers.
Chapter 3 further develops the returns to scale concept and introduces variable returns to
scale (VRS) model with software illustration. Multiplier or weight restricted models (cone ratio
or assurance region models) are presented and illustrated in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 discusses nonoriented or slack-based models and shows how and under what circumstances they can be used.
Longititudunal (panel) evaluations are illustrated in Chapter 6 using Malmquist Index.
This chapter illustrates not only an efficiency change between two time periods, but also
accounts for technological changes.
The last chapter of this section, Chapter 7, introduces effectiveness in a performance
model and shows the potential misuse of quality variables in DEA models. Furthermore, it
suggests a procedure to evaluate both efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, other less frequently
used DEA-based methods are discussed.
The aim of this book is to reduce the anxiety for complex mathematics, and promote the
use of DEA for health care managers and researchers. Thus, the mathematical formulations of
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
various DEA models used in this book purposefully placed in the appendices at the end of
appropriate chapter for interested readers.
Section II includes the health care applications. In this section, DEA is applied to health
care organizational settings to determine which providers are functioning efficiently when
compared to a homogenous group of providers in their respective services. The most frequently
evaluated health care providers are hospitals, nursing homes, physician practices, and health care
maintenance organization (HMOs). The DEA models for these providers are discussed in
Chapters 8 through 11, respectively.
A CD-ROM containing limited version of DEAFrontier software written by Professor Joe
Zhu accompanies this text. This limited version of DEAFrontier can solve up to four-input and
four-output DEA models for 100 DMUs. For Malmquist evaluations, it can solve approximately
50 DMUs.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
The Health Applications Section ListServ
In order to be “in the loop” about the ongoing activities of the INFORMS Health Applications
Section, please consider subscribing to our HAS listserv. You can subscribe to the listserv by
accessing the link below:
http://list.informs.org/mailman/listinfo
Click on “INFORMS Health Application Section”.
Please keep in mind that you must be a member of the section to subscribe to the listserv.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
18
Fall 2008
Conference Announcements
Operations Research and Lean Health Care:
Implementation Successes and Challenges
Vancouver, BC April 23 - 24, 2009
The Canadian health care system continues to grow in complexity and is constantly
challenged to become more efficient. Health care leaders in British Columbia are now well
aware of how Operations Research (OR) and Lean methodologies can help their
organizations address these challenges. In fact, over the last five years almost all BC
Health Authorities have carried out one or more projects using these approaches. Also,
most have OR professionals on their staffs who focus on process improvements, patient
flow, planning and operations. However, there is still a significant gap in terms of
achieving successful implementation of these projects.
This conference will bring together users and practitioners to share their experiences
implementing, sustaining and evaluating operations research and lean health care
projects.
Visit http://www.chcm.ubc.ca/VancouverConference.cfm for more information.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
2009 INFORMS Conference on O.R. Practice
Applying Science to the Art of Business
http://meetings.informs.org/Practice09
April 26-28, 2009, Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, Phoenix, Arizona
Interested in innovative O.R. applications in health care? With INFORMS' concentrated tracks format,
you can choose to specialize in the areas that you care about most.
Attend all or choose from these great HEALTH CARE PRESENTATIONS!
Clinton Foundation HIV-AIDS Initiative --- Justin Cohen, Sr. Research Associate, Center for
Strategic HIV Operations Research, on applying O.R. to global health.
Arizona State University & Kromite --- Michelle Pfund, Clinical Assistant Professor, with
Jack M. Kloeber, Jr., Partner, Kromite, on portfolio management methods in a competitive
pharmaceutical industry.
Baxter BioScience --- Phillip C. Beccue, Director of Strategy & Portfolio Management, on
transforming the culture of strategic decision-making at Baxter.
Merck & Co. --- Daniel C. Zweidler, Senior Vice-President, Research Planning and Integration,
on R&D strategy to realization.
University of British Columbia --- Martin Puterman, Professor of Operations and Research
Director, UBC Centre for Healthcare Management, on using operations research for health
human resource and residential care capacity planning.
Get an inside look at innovative HEATLTH CARE APPLICATION solutions.
http://meetings.informs.org/Practice09
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
CORS/INFORMS International Conference
Toronto, ON
June 14-17, 2009
“The World Connected”
IMPORTANT DATES
April 15, 2009
Authors' deadline for final abstract changes
May 4, 2009
Hotel reservation cut-off date
May 11, 2009
Early registration deadline
There is still space
available for contributed
abstracts. We will
continue to accept
abstracts as long as there
is space in the program.
Contributors to the field of operations research and management science (OR/MS) come from all
parts of the world. We are connected by our passion to share our ideas to find solutions to
complex problems in diverse applications such as services, manufacturing, supply chain
management, the environment, natural resources, transportation, healthcare and the military.
You are cordially invited to join us at the CORS/INFORMS 2009 Joint International Meeting in
Toronto, a city with more than 100 cultures coming together to create unique cuisine, shopping
and art you won’t see anywhere else. The meeting will take place at the Westin Harbour Castle
Hotel overlooking Lake Ontario.
The academic program will consist of parallel tracks as well as plenary speakers and tutorials
covering many aspects of OR/MS and offering the usual vigorous intellectual exchange. In
addition to the technical tracks, there will be competitions, a Welcome Reception on Sunday,
June 14, and a General Reception at the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, June 15, where guests
will see the international history of hockey. Finally, while you are in the city, please do partake
in some of the region’s attractions such as the CN Tower, Casa Loma, Rogers Centre (Skydome),
the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario and Niagara Falls.
Liping Fang
General Chair
Please Note:
• Only one Contributed paper is accepted from the same presenting author.
• All attendees, including speakers and session chairs, must register and pay the registration fee.
• If you require an early confirmation for visa or budgetary reasons, please indicate this in the
“Comments” field on the online submission form
• Once the program has been scheduled and posted on the web, all speakers will receive an email
directing them to the online program for the date and time of their presentation, as well as AV, hotel and
registration information.
INFORMS Health Newsletter
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Fall 2008
2009 Operational Research Applied to Health Services
(ORAHS) Conference
This year's ORAHS (Operational Research Applied to Health Services) conference is held
between July 12 and July 17 in Leuven, Belgium. We welcome all researchers and practitioners
that have an interest in applying operational research techniques to problems that are
encountered in health services. All information concerning the conference can be found on the
following website: http://econ.kuleuven.be/ORAHS2009/.
Submission deadline: April 30, 2009
Best regards and hope to see you in Leuven this summer,
Erik Demeulemeester
Conference chair
2009 IEEE Toronto International Conference Science and
Technology for Humanity (TIC-STH 2009)
http://www.TIC-STH2009.org
September 27-29 2009, Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre, Toronto, Canada
Information and Knowledge Management in the Health Sector
Call for Papers
Papers are invited in the areas related, but are not limited, to the following topics within the context of the
health sector:
 Information and Knowledge Management Implications on Health Policy
 Health data: Quality and Standards
 Knowledge Translation
 Patient Journey Modelling and Process Improvement
 National Strategies for Information and Knowledge Management
 Barriers to adoption of Information and Knowledge Management
 Health Analytics: Methodologies and Tools
 Information and Knowledge Management Emerging Technologies
All submissions must conform to the TIC-STH 2009 submission policy and should be in English
language.
Submission deadline: May 1, 2009
Symposium Technical Program Committee
Chair:
Carolyn McGregor (University of Ontario Institute of Technology)
Co-Chair: Jennifer Percival (University of Ontario Institute of Technology)
Alexei Botchkarev (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care)
Peter Andru (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care)
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Fall 2008
INFORMS Conference
San Diego, CA
October 11-14, 2009
“INFORMing the Globe”
San Diego beckons with a delightful climate and a new downtown hotel close to all the
attractions which this beautiful city is world renowned. The combination of a great location and
an informative meeting will assure a productive and fun time for all attendees. The theme of the
meetings, INFORMing the Globe, is reflected in the exciting location of San Diego as the home
of diverse global industries emphasizing high technology, biotechnology, health care and
tourism. In addition, San Diego is close to Mexico and the Pacific Rim nations and a major
military base. The INFORMS Annual Meeting 2009 San Diego will provide a forum to seek and
explore opportunities for OR research in this diverse environment.
An enterprising program is being planned that spans a host of intellectual and festive activities.
Keynote speakers, tutorials and parallel sessions will provide a showcase of the richness that is
operations research and the management sciences. The general reception will be held at the
famous Sea World with a private evening Shamu hshow.We are also planning plant tours of
biotech and high tech manufacturing facilities in the San Diego area.
We invite members of INFORMS and the worldwide ORMS community to join us in San Diego
in 2009. Look forward to seeing you there!
Soheila Jorjani
General Chair
Guidelines for Submission
As the premier OR/MS conference, INFORMS Annual Meeting 2009 invites submissions in all
areas of the field, broadly defined. We particularly invite submissions in areas that illustrate the
use of OR/MS in keeping with the theme “INFORMing the Globe.”
Submit Online
Only one contributed abstract is accepted from the same presenting author. All attendees,
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Fall 2008
including speakers and session chairs, must register and pay the registration fee. If you need an
early confirmation for visa or budgetary reasons, please indicate this in the “Comments” field on
the online form.
Submission Deadline: May 15, 2009
May 15 is the deadline for abstract submission. If space is still available on the program after
May 15, we will continue to accept Contributed abstracts. If space is no longer available,
submission will be closed and authors will be directed to the Interactive Sessions. We encourage
you to submit early to have the best chance of presenting your paper at INFORMS San Diego.
Program Online
Once the preliminary program has been finalized and posted on the Web, all speakers will
receive an e-mail directing them to the online program for the date and time of their
presentations, registration, A/V, hotel information and other speaker guidelines.
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Fall 2008