Research Interests

Broadly, I am interested in developing and applying operations research methodologies to guide patient-centered decision making in healthcare and public health, with the ultimate goal of improving healthcare outcomes. 

Methodologies: Mixed Integer Linear Programming, Simulation, Stochastic Programming, Dynamic Programming

Applications: Scheduling, Resource Allocation, Healthcare, Public Health

Current Research

Scheduling Prenatal Care Visits for Patients with Varying Medical and Social Risk Factors 

Prenatal care is one of the most widely used health services in the United States, and despite high levels of spending on prenatal care, the U.S. has the highest annual maternal mortality rate amongst peer high-income nations. In moving away from the typical “one size fits all” prenatal care paradigm, a new conceptual model of care is proposed that will allow for anticipatory healthcare based on patients’ varying medical and social needs. We explore mixed integer linear programming and simulation approaches to assess the operational impacts and quality of this new model. By better matching patient needs to services, this work aims to improve utilization of prenatal care, while addressing disparities amongst different patient groups.


Publication(s): 

ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10408200 


Publications

Journal Articles

Ghrayeb, L. & Damodaran, P. (2021). Minimizing Makespan of a Batch Processing Machine with Unequal Job Ready Times Using Simulated Annealing. International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

 

Ghrayeb, L., Muthuswamy, S., & Damodaran, P. (2020). Minimizing Makespan of Batch Processing Machine with Unequal Ready Times. International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering. doi:10.1504/ijise.2020.10032044



Conference Presentations with Proceedings

Ghrayeb, L., Bryan, TJ., Kandiraju, M., Maire, T., Zhang, Y., Cohn, A., Peahl, A. (2023)  Measuring the Operational Impacts of Right-Sizing Prenatal Care Using  Simulation. In 2023 Winter Simulation Conference. Proceedings (pp. 1065 - 1076). INFORMS. 


Ghrayeb, L., & Damodaran, P. (2020). Simulated Annealing Approach for Minimizing  Makespan of a Batch Processing Machine with Unequal Job Ready Times.  In  IIE  Annual Conference. Proceedings (pp. 49A-54A). Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). 


Ghrayeb, L., & Damodaran, P. (2019). Minimizing Makespan of Batch Processing  Machine with Unequal Ready Times. In IIE Annual Conference. Proceedings (pp. 148- 153). Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). 



Conference Presentations
Ghrayeb, L.,  Cohn, A., Jiang, R., Peahl, A.  (2022). An Optimization-embedded Simulation Approach for Scheduling Prenatal Care Visits.  INFORMS Annual Meeting, Indianapolis, IN.
Ghrayeb, L., Cohn, A., Jiang, R., & Peahl, A. (2021). Prenatal Care Scheduling of Patients with Varying Medical and Social Risk Factors. INFORMS Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA.


Posters
Peahl, A., Eddy, N., Ghrayeb, L., Getzen, A., Monickaraj, CJ., Campbell, A.,  Stout, M., Cohn, A. (2024) Quantifying the operational impacts of varying patient-provider continuity policies in prenatal care. In 2024 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting.  American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. 

Campbell, A., Ghrayeb, L., Monickaraj, CJ., Getzen, A.,  Eddy, N., Stout, M., Cohn, A., Peahl, A. (2024) The effects of dynamic patient trajectories on prenatal care utilization and clinical operations. In 2024 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting.  American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. 

Peahl, A., Ghrayeb, L., Kingston, C., Kandiraju, M., Stout, M., Cohn, A. (2023) Effect of Virtual Care on the Receipt of Evidence Based Services and Diagnosis of Complications in Pregnancy in Patients with and without Social Needs. In AcademyHealth 2023 Annual Research Meeting, Seattle, WA. AcademyHealth. 

Ghrayeb, L.,  Zhang, Y., Bryan, T., Cohn, A., Peahl, A.. (2023) Operational effects of implementing hybrid prenatal care models: a retrospective analysis. In 2023 ACOG  Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting, Baltimore, MD.  American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. 

Kandiraju, M., Kingston, C., Bryan, T., Ghrayeb, L., Cohn, A., Peahl, A. (2023) A simulation model of the effects of tailored prenatal care delivery on care access. In 2023 ACOG  Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting, Baltimore, MD.  American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. 

Tang, M., Ghrayeb, L., Cohn, A., Fendrick, M., Peahl, A. Evaluation of Patient Cost Savings in Tailored Prenatal Pathways. (2023)  In 2023 ACOG  Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting, Baltimore, MD.  American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. 

Peahl, A. Kingston, C., Ghrayeb, L., Bryan, TJ., Zhang, Y., & Cohn, A. (2023). The effect of tailored prenatal care policies with telemedicine on outpatient clinic operations. In 43rd Annual Pregnancy Meeting. Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine.

Peahl, A., Zacharek, N., Hocher, S., Kandiraju, M., Debnath, D., Ghrayeb, L., & Cohn, A. (2022, June). Tailored Prenatal Care Delivery Improves Care Access When Compared to Traditional Prenatal Care. In 2022 Annual Research Meeting. AcademyHealth.

Pennathur, H., Ghrayeb, L., Debnath, D., Ganzi, S., Cohn, A., & Peahl, A. F. (2022). Cumulative Effect of Medical and Social Risk Factors on Routine Prenatal Care Screening [A231]. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 139, 67S.