Keynote Speaker

Jayant Rajgopal, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. Rajgopal is a Professor and the graduate program director in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. He obtained his Ph.D. in Industrial & Management Engineering from the University of Iowa, and has been a faculty member at Pitt since 1986.

His teaching and research are in the general area of operations research, with a focus on mathematical modeling & optimization theory and methods. His current application interests are in global supply chains; production, operations, and logistics; and healthcare delivery systems. He has taught, conducted sponsored research, supervised doctoral students, published or consulted in all of these areas, and has over 100 peer-reviewed publications in books, conference proceedings and scholarly journals.

Dr. Rajgopal is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), a senior member of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), and a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Pennsylvania.

Keynote Title

Logistics Models in Public Health

Keynote Abstract

Much of the focus of mathematical and simulation models in logistics has been on production and manufacturing. However, good logistics systems are also crucial to healthcare delivery. This is especially true in the public health sector where many lives might be at stake, and in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where it is often the case that adequate resources are lacking, infrastructure is poor and sociocultural barriers exist. In such scenarios, optimizing the design and operations of logistical systems is crucial. In this talk we present two examples of modeling approaches that we have applied to the delivery of two very different but crucial medical products in a public health system: vaccines and blood. The actual systems considered were all in resource-strapped LMICs in in sub-Saharan Africa.

With vaccines, we consider the distribution chain for childhood immunization vaccines (such as measles, polio, DTP, etc.) that is commonly in place around the world as part of the World Health Organization’s Expanded Program on Immunization (WHO-EPI). The models employed include a mathematical program for the design aspects and a large-scale, agent based simulation for the operational aspects. These have been applied to numerous countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Niger, Chad, Kenya, Benin and Mozambique. With blood, we consider the system in Kenya. Here we have developed a vein-to-vein discrete-event simulation model of the typical blood collection and delivery continuum that can be used to answer various what-if questions associated with the system and to determine its bottlenecks.

Meet the Editor Session

“Meet the Editor” session will feature Dr. Carnovale. This session is designed to give participants insight into the publishing process and editorial expectations of high-impact journals in logistics and supply chain management.

Assoc. Prof. Steven Carnovale

Dr. Carnovale, Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. Prior to joining FAU, Dr. Carnovale was Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management at the Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology from August 2018 to December 2022 and Nike Professor of Supply Chain Management at Portland State University from Sept. 2014 to June 2018.

Dr Carnovale is a supply chain strategist specializing in interfirm networks, risk management and global sourcing/production networks with a specific focus on equity-based partnerships. He is an Associate Editor at the Journal of Supply Chain Management. His research has appeared in the Journal of Supply Chain Management, the Journal of Business Logistics, the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, the Journal of International Business Studies, the International Journal of Production Economics, the European Journal of Operational Research and Annals of Operations Research among others.

Dr. Carnovale earned his B.S. and PhD degrees at Rutgers University, specializing in Supply Chain Management and Marketing Sciences. Dr. Carnovale is a frequent speaker at both academic and professional supply chain meetings on topics related to supply networks & analytics, with a specific focus on how firms can use these concepts to generate enhanced visibility and financial performance within their supply chains and extended enterprises. Prior to his academic work he co-founded a marketing strategy and consulting firm, worked in sales and operations management roles in the IT sector, as well as in market research and marketing analytics roles.