Research

My research develops statistical and machine learning methods to model complex, partially observed healthcare systems. I focus on understanding how system-level factors—such as placement instability, provider access, and treatment pathways—shape outcomes for children in foster care. By combining longitudinal claims data with latent variable models and simulation, I aim to identify where disparities emerge and how policy interventions can improve care delivery.

Much of my current work uses large administrative datasets, such as Medicaid claims data, to examine mental health and behavioral health service utilization among youth involved in foster care. Through these analyses, I aim to identify gaps in care, understand patterns in treatment pathways, and inform policies that improve access to appropriate behavioral health services. I am also interested in how structural factors, such as patient–provider racial concordance and healthcare workforce composition, affect access to care and treatment outcomes.

Overall, my goal is to develop data-driven methods and evidence that support more equitable, transparent, and effective decision-making in healthcare systems and public policy.

Working Papers

Amaya McNealey, Simona Ivanov, Nicoleta Serban, Jovan Julien. ADHD Treatment Patterns Among Medicaid-Enrolled Preschool-Aged Children in Foster Care: A Multi-State Matched Analysis (2025)

Amaya McNealey, Qingyang Cheng, Nancy Manaresh, Nicoleta Serban, Jovan Julien. GFPCA and a Multivariate Hidden Markov Model for Crisis-Driven Placement Trajectories in Foster Care (2025)

Amaya McNealey, Violet Cai, Daniel Kim, Vivek Inumella, Nicoleta Serban, Jovan Julien. Assessing Treatment Pathways and Outcomes Among Medicaid-Enrolled Youth Diagnosed with Suicidal Ideation (2025)

Amaya McNealey, Yujia Xie, Nicoletta Serban, David Goldsman, Marie Plaisime, Jovan Julien. A Simulation Study of Patient–Provider Concordance in an Evolving and Diverse Workforce (2025)

Publications

Soto, Esteban A., Andrea Hernandez-Guzman, Alexander Vizcarrondo-Ortega, McNealey, A. and Lisa B. Bosman. "Solar Energy Implementation for Health-Care Facilities in Developing and Underdeveloped Countries: Overview, Opportunities, and Challenges." Energies 15, no. 22 (2022): 8602.

Book Chapters

McNealey, A., Marrero, W.J., Steimle, L.N., Garcia, GG.P. (2023). Optimizing Interpretable Treatment and Screening Policies in Healthcare. In: Pardalos, P.M., Prokopyev, O.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Optimization. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54621-2_866-1

Presentations

A. K. McNealey, M. E. Meredith, G.-G. P. Garcia, and L. N. Steimle (2024). Race-Neutral Calculator Still Disadvantages Black Patients. INFORMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA 

A.K.McNealey, M.E.Meredith, G.G Garcia, L.N. Steimle, K.K. Stanhope, M.H. Platner, S.L. Boulet.

"Race-Blind Calculator Still Disadvantages Black Patients”. Graduate Oral Presentation, 1st Place in

Data Science, Physiology,  and Health. Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM,

Washington D.C. March 14-17th, 2024.

A.K.McNealey, M.E.Meredith, G.G Garcia, L.N. Steimle, K.K. Stanhope, M.H. Platner, S.L. Boulet. "Favorability for vaginal birth after Cesarean among Black women using a new race-blind risk calculator." Poster presentation, Southeast Regional Clinical and Translational Science Conference, Pine Mountain,GA., February 27-29 2024.

McNealey, A. “Predicted likelihood of successful vaginal birth after Cesarean using a race-unaware calculator in a safety net hospital”. Georgia Tech Health Systems - The Next Generation Forum 2023

McNealey, A. Optimizing Solar Energy ROI: A Case for System-Level Monitoring Dashboards to Validate Performance Warranties. Purdue University Fall Undergraduate Research Expo. (2022)

McNealey, A. Solar Energy Applications for Healthcare Facilities in Underdeveloped Countries. Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference Paper Competition. (2022)

Conference Proceedings 

McNealey, A. Esteban A. Soto, and Lisa B. Bosman. "A Case for Solar Energy System Dashboards to Validate Performance Warranties."(2022). Proceedings of the 7th North American International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, Orlando, Florida, USA, June 12-14, 2022

Teacher Assistantship

• ISYE 8813-OR Math of Operations Research (Real Analysis and Linear Algebra) - Fall 2024

• Non Linear Optimization - Fall 2024

Mentorship

I mentor undergraduate and graduate students in developing reproducible data pipelines and conducting research in healthcare analytics, with a focus on large-scale administrative data and machine learning applications.

• Simona Ivanov, B.S. Computer Science (Expected Spring 2026)

• Nancy Manaresh B.S. Industrial Engineering (Expected Spring 2027)

• Qingyang Cheng M.S. Statistics (Expected Spring 2026)

• Meghna Mullangi B.S. Industrial Engineering (Expected Spring 2029)

• Jaime Poza Moreno M.S. Industrial Engineering (Expected 2027)