INTM Industry Professor, Gurram Gopal, Active on Industry Speaking Circuit
During the week of November 6, Dr. Gurram Gopal was in Baltimore, MD, speaking at the 2017 meeting of the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD). On November 14-15 he was speaking at the Supply Chain Innovation Summit in Chicago.
Dr. Gopal holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences, and his background reflects varied research and international business interests and experience. He teaches INTM courses in Industrial Engineering and Supply Chain Operations and supervises graduate student research in application of optimization models in the supply chain. He has published extensively and has presented at leading academic conferences including the Principles for Responsible Management Education conference in New Delhi, sponsored by the UN Global Compact. In 2011-12, he received a Fulbright Scholar Award to teach and conduct research at Galway Mayo Institute of Technology in Ireland. He is currently a Fulbright Specialist candidate from 2013 to 2018. His professional career includes development of marketing strategies for some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies as a strategy consultant and manager.
At COR-NTD, Gurram Gopal, Ph.D., Industry Professor of Industrial Technology and Management (INTM) moderated a session along with Dr. Silvia Moriana, Chagas Disease Coordinator from ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain. The COR-NTD Secretariat and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation screened their topic and selected it for this invitation-only Conference. Their session, “A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Approach to Scaling up Healthcare for Chagas Disease Sassafras” focused on a strategic planning framework and a decision-making tool to assist program managers and public health officials in making optimal health-care decisions. This tool was developed by Ainize Cidoncha, a graduate student in the INTM program, working under the supervision of Dr. Gopal to complete a research project to earn a dual degree with her University in Spain.
Discussions with session participants explored opportunities for collaboration with health economists and NTD Operational modeling groups to expand the deployment of the methodology and the tool. The framework and decision-making software were initially tested and implemented for the care of Chagas disease in Bolivia, and have been subsequently used for modeling in Catalonia and Columbia. These are now being considered for use in the U.S. and in Argentina.
The Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD) is a group of researchers, program implementers and their supporters with the shared goal of optimizing NTD control and elimination. It is coordinated by the Neglected Tropical Diseases Support Center, which is funded by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.K. Department for International Development. The aim of COR-NTD is to create new synergies within the operational research arena for NTDs and align that research with the program needs.
This event was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Learn more about the COR-NTD Meeting.
Dr. Gopal’s speaking engagement for the Supply Chain Innovation Summit is sponsored by Innovation Enterprise, a group of thought leaders who call themselves “industry commentators.” They offer published articles, white papers, interviews, eBooks and webinars to take an in-depth look at current trends in industry. His presentation, “Exciting Developments in Supply Chain: From Performance Optimization Analytics to Blockchain Experiments” is intended for senior executives from all over the world who operate within supply chain and inventory management. Dr. Gopal recently supervised two INTM graduate students from Spain who completed special projects related to Blockchain technology. Juan Martinez studied the application of blockchain technologies in the supply chain and Alejandro Garach researched the application of smart contracts using blockchain technologies. Learn more about Dr. Gopal and INTM Special Projects.
