News Room

While problems with flu vaccine distribution in the United States may cost lives and pose a serious threat in the event of a flu pandemic, a new computer model shows that proposed changes to the current distribution system could save thousands of lives. INFORMS members Pinar Keskinocak of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Julie Swann of North Carolina State University, and Zihao Li, a PhD student of Georgia Tech at the time who is currently working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted research that found by replenishing flu vaccine stocks in regions where they are being used up and not replenishing them in areas where vaccines are piling up because people aren't getting flu shots would have a population-wide benefit by increasing the total number of vaccinated people. They would then be less likely to get sick and to infect others, reducing the overall flu wave. This change to flu vaccine distribution could save thousands of lives in a regular flu season, and even more in a flu pandemic.

The 2019 INFORMS Business Analytics Conference in Austin, TX has been named among the best data and analytics conferences and events to attend in 2019! Join over 1,000 leading analytics professionals and industry experts in discovering new mathematical solutions to problems, networking strategies for advancing your career, and recognizing individual and team efforts within your field with most prestigious awards in analytics and operations research. The INFORMS Analytics Conference delivers three days of intensive learning about the latest innovations in analytics.

Andrew Lo, INFORMS member and professor at MIT is working with the MIT Laboratory for Financial Engineering (LFE) and Informa Pharma Intelligence have on an initiative to provide timely and accurate estimates of the risks and benefits of clinical trials to the entire life sciences ecosystem.

New research from INFORMS members Sergeuei Netessine and Santiago Gallino, and INFORMS Fellow Marshall Fisher, all of the University Pennsylvania, can increase brick and mortar store revenue by as much as 20 percent by determining the optimal amount of staffing and training for individual stores.