Upcoming Seminars

Abstract: When allocating limited vaccines to control an infectious disease, policy makers frequently have goals relating to individual health benefits (e.g., reduced morbidity and mortality) as well as population-level health benefits (e.g., reduced transmission and possible disease eradication). We consider the optimal allocation of a limited supply of a preventive vaccine to control an infectious disease, and four different allocation objectives: minimize new infections, deaths, life years lost, or quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) lost due to death. We first consider an SIR model with n interacting populations, and a single allocation of vaccine at time 0. The model allows for equity constraints that ensure equal vaccine coverage among different population groups. We approximate the model dynamics to develop simple analytical conditions characterizing the optimal vaccine allocation for each objective. The simple conditions provide a useful means of informing vaccine allocation decisions for communicable diseases. We extend the analysis to consider vaccine allocation over time, and the optimal allocation of initial and booster vaccine doses.

Bio: Margaret L. Brandeau is Coleman F. Fung Professor of Engineering and Professor of Health Policy (by Courtesy) at Stanford University. Her research focuses on the development of applied mathematical and economic models to support health policy decisions. Her recent work has examined HIV and drug abuse prevention and treatment programs, programs to control the opioid epidemic, and housing programs for persons experiencing homelessness. She is an INFORMS Fellow. From INFORMS, she has received the Philip McCord Morse Lectureship Award, the President’s Award, the Pierskalla Prize (twice), the Saul Gass Expository Writing Award, and the Award for the Advancement of Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences. She has also received the Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry Paper of the Year Award from the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health and the Award for Excellence in Application of Pharmacoeconomics and Health Outcomes Research from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. At Stanford she has received the Stanford Medicine Integrated Strategic Plan Star Award, the Eugene L. Grant Faculty Teaching Award from the School of Engineering, and the Graduate Teaching Award from the Department of Management Science and Engineering.