Application of OR Tools to Flow Optimization in Radiotherapy

Nadia Lahrichi, PhD
Department of Mathematical and Industrial Engineering
Polytechnique Montréal

Abstract: The main cancer treatments are surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. The complexity of the logistical process of scheduling treatment appointments stems from the fact that it involves extremely costly resources, sometimes synchronously. Several due dates (i.e., appointments already scheduled, maximum wait times) and unexpected events such as the arrival of patients requiring urgent palliative care add to the difficulty. This talk will investigate how can simulation and optimization models help improve the efficiency of cancer treatment centers and share experiences on patient booking, physician scheduling, and capacity assessment.

Biography: Nadia Lahrichi holds a PhD in applied mathematics from Polytechnique Montréal. She is currently a full professor at the department of Mathematics and industrial engineering at Polytechnique Montreal and the deputy director of CIRRELT. Her research is mainly focused towards applying modeling and operational research tools to improve patient flow in the healthcare system. She uses exact, metaheuristics and discrete event simulation approaches to tackle patient and resource scheduling problems. She has published more than 50 papers in peer reviewed journals and received the award for outstanding application of operational research (from the Canadian Operational research society) for solving the home health care routing and scheduling problem. She is an associate editor of Health Care Management Science and Operations research for Health Care.