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OR Forum—Public Health Preparedness: Answering (Largely Unanswerable) Questions with Operations Research—The 2016–2017 Philip McCord Morse Lecture

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  • Margaret L. Brandeau

    (Department of Management Science and Engineering, Huang Engineering Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305)

Abstract

Public health security—achieved by effectively preventing, detecting, and responding to events that affect public health, such as bioterrorism, disasters, and naturally occurring disease outbreaks—is a key aspect of national security. However, effective public health preparedness depends on answering largely unanswerable questions such as determining the chance of a bioterror attack in the United States over a given time horizon, or chance of an anthrax attack, or the location and magnitude of such an attack. In “Public Health Preparedness: Answering (Largely Unanswerable) Questions with Operations Research—The 2016–2017 Philip McCord Morse Lecture,” Margaret Brandeau describes the important role that OR-based analyses can play in providing insight into complex public health preparedness planning problems, thereby supporting good decisions. The author presents three examples from her work: logistics of response to an anthrax attack, prepositioning of medical countermeasures for anthrax, and stockpiling decisions for the United States’ Strategic National Stockpile.

Suggested Citation

  • Margaret L. Brandeau, 2019. "OR Forum—Public Health Preparedness: Answering (Largely Unanswerable) Questions with Operations Research—The 2016–2017 Philip McCord Morse Lecture," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 700-710, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:oropre:v:67:y:2019:i:3:p:700-710
    DOI: 10.1287/opre.2019.1844
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    References listed on IDEAS

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