Integrating operations research into health care systematically and at scale can help reduce costs, improve patient experience and efficiently integrate cutting-edge technologies. Leveraging the expertise within Rice’s computational applied mathematics, operations research and statistics and MD Anderson’s Institute for Data Science in Oncology (IDSO), the new center will harness mathematical modeling and data science to optimize treatment delivery, improve therapy outcomes and streamline operations at the nation’s leading cancer center and beyond.

“We are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible in cancer care to advance our mission to end cancer,” said David Jaffray, director of IDSO and chief technology and digital officer at MD Anderson. “It is clear that operations research approaches can increase our capacity to care for patients, and the launch of this center is a major step in realizing that future.”

Dr. Caroline Chung, IDSO’s director of data science development and implementation and chief and data and analytics officer at MD Anderson, expanded on the importance of this collaboration.

“New methods and technologies are only capable of driving impact by carefully integrating these discoveries into operations in a way that maximizes the benefit and minimizes burdens,” Chung said. “This new effort with Rice in operations research will focus on that drive to impact for our patients and our mission.”

The confluence of technological advancements and an ever-growing demand for high-quality, cost-effective health care makes the collaboration timely.

“Rice has a critical mass of expertise in data science, and this collaboration is the perfect test bed for us to show what operations research can do broadly in health care, and specifically in cancer care,” said Amy Dittmar, the Howard R. Hughes Provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “The goal is to enhance the efficiency of care while focusing on reducing the burden on patients and their families, making their experience more seamless and compassionate.”

Jeffrey Siewerdsen, professor of imaging physics and co-lead for the safety, quality and access focus area of IDSO, worked closely with Rice’s Andrew Schaefer, Noah Harding Chair and professor of computational applied mathematics and operations research, to create the center. They will serve as co-leads for the initiative.

“New technologies and therapies have driven major changes in cancer care compared to a decade ago, posing new challenges to clinical operations,” Siewerdsen said. “While operations research has transformed industries like transportation, manufacturing and logistics, its potential in health care is yet to be fully realized. New computational capabilities and high-quality data present a major opportunity to improve safety, quality and access to cancer care.”

In addition to the co-leads, center activities will rely on a steering group from each institution to help guide strategy, plan activities and measure outcomes. The joint center will serve as a hub, supporting collaborative research projects, pilot project seed funding and exchange of trainees, fellows and interns across various levels of undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate education.

“The problems we face in health care are more complex than those in other industries because they involve an explosion of possibilities unfolding under uncertainty,” said Schaefer, “It’s humbling that even if we can’t solve all these problems fully, our models can provide real insights and make meaningful differences in patient care.”

The center will tackle several areas of application with significant potential for impact, including:

• Forecasting and scheduling for improved patient experience, health care workforce satisfaction and optimal equipment and facilities management
• Managing complex treatment regimens that evaluate an exponentially large number of options and incorporate patient response
• Improving protocols for adaptive randomized clinical trials
• Cutting-edge modeling of tumor progression using genomics and other biomarkers
• Developing customized, patient-centric screening protocols to counter potential gaps in care due to large-scale, population-based models
• Developing evidence-based models for rare cancers

The Center for Operations Research in Cancer follows the launch of the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative by Rice and MD Anderson this summer, which aims to develop innovative technologies and bioengineering approaches to improve cancer research, diagnosis and treatment.

This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

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About Rice:

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,574 undergraduates and 3,982 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction, No. 2 for best-run colleges and No. 12 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

About MD Anderson:

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world’s most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. The institution’s sole mission is to end cancer for patients and their families around the world, and, in 1971, it became one of the nation’s first National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated comprehensive cancer centers. MD Anderson is No. 1 for cancer in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” rankings and has been named one of the nation’s top two hospitals for cancer since the rankings began in 1990. MD Anderson receives a cancer center support grant from the NCI of the National Institutes of Health (P30 CA016672).