{"686310":{"#nid":"686310","#data":{"type":"news","title":"For Sujan Ganesh Kumar, Systems are a Path to Helping People","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESujan Ganesh Kumar became intrigued with the concept of serving humanity through medicine at an early age \u2014 white coat, stethoscope, the whole picture.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo, when he had the opportunity to learn more about it through the Medical Bioscience Academy at his high school, Ganesh Kumar enrolled immediately. The program exposed him to healthcare, patient systems, and the science behind clinical care. Becoming a physician seemed like the natural next step.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut by the end of his junior year, everything changed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe had taken an AP Statistics class, and that opened his eyes to the ways data could spot patterns, strengthen decisions, and, ultimately, improve the ways that systems support people. It was a revelation \u2014 one that pushed him to think about industrial engineering, a field that merged his mathematical mindset with his determination to do something meaningful in healthcare and something that felt deeply human.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat I love about IE is how it lets you take a systems approach to problems that affect people directly,\u201d said Ganesh Kumar, now a fourth-year student in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). \u201cIn healthcare, even small process improvements can make a real difference in someone\u2019s care.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs he works toward that future of making a difference for people, he\u2019s trying to make a positive impact on campus first. He\u2019s found ways to connect his interests and his personal values: mentoring younger students, conducting research on using data to improve medical outcomes, and organizing events as president of the Georgia Tech chapter of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) professional organization.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s about using what we learn here to make things work better for people,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs the president of Georgia Tech\u2019s student chapter of IISE, Ganesh Kumar has focused on making the organization a bridge connecting students with industry professionals. He and the executive team worked to create partnerships with major corporations like Lockheed Martin and Delta Airlines, aimed at providing professional development sessions, even offering members Lean Six Sigma certifications to boost their resumes. The group also has expanded opportunities for mentorship between first-year students and their older peers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeanwhile, Ganesh Kumar\u2019s experiences on campus, through research, and as an intern have helped him clarify his future plans \u2014 showing him how data and systems of thinking can drive meaningful change in healthcare.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen I started out, I didn\u2019t know where IE would take me,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the more I saw how data could improve real systems \u2014 especially in hospitals and health systems \u2014 the more I knew that\u2019s where I want to make an impact.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuring an internship with Johnson \u0026amp; Johnson focused on medical device manufacturing, he saw how the engineering principles he\u2019d been learning could improve processes in healthcare settings. That helped him focus on using data to strengthen hospital operations and make those systems work more efficiently for patients and providers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeanwhile, as his vision for his career has crystallized, it\u2019s also been reinforced by alumni doing similar work, Ganesh Kumar said. He was particularly inspired by a recent visit from Piedmont Hospital Chief Operating Officer Josh Roberts, an ISyE alumnus who spoke to the Executive Roundtable Club.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHe talked about the different problems he sees in healthcare,\u201d Ganesh Kumar said. \u201cHearing that was really inspiring \u2014 it reassures me this is the field I want to go into because there are so many opportunities to make an impact.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIn medicine, I wanted to help people one at a time,\u201d he added. \u201cIn industrial engineering, I get to improve systems that help thousands of people. That\u2019s what makes this so meaningful to me.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"An early interest in medicine led the fourth-year student to industrial engineering and finding ways to improve healthcare through data and systems thinking."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESujan Ganesh Kumar shifted from aspiring physician to industrial engineering leader after discovering the power of data to improve healthcare systems, and now combines research, mentorship, and professional development initiatives to make meaningful impacts on campus and beyond.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":" Sujan Ganesh Kumar is using industrial engineering to transform healthcare systems"}],"uid":"36736","created_gmt":"2025-11-10 15:33:59","changed_gmt":"2025-12-12 19:11:35","author":"ebrown386","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-11-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-11-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678581":{"id":"678581","type":"image","title":"SGK_research.JPG","body":null,"created":"1762787771","gmt_created":"2025-11-10 15:16:11","changed":"1762787771","gmt_changed":"2025-11-10 15:16:11","alt":"Sujan Ganesh Kumar","file":{"fid":"262634","name":"SGK_research.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_research.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_research.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":6100273,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_research.JPG?itok=J4f4XcxW"}},"678582":{"id":"678582","type":"image","title":"SGK_iise.jpg","body":null,"created":"1762787845","gmt_created":"2025-11-10 15:17:25","changed":"1762787845","gmt_changed":"2025-11-10 15:17:25","alt":"Sujan Ganesh Kumar, IISE President","file":{"fid":"262636","name":"SGK_iise.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_iise.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_iise.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2283215,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_iise.jpg?itok=ZRB5HlIa"}},"678583":{"id":"678583","type":"image","title":"SGK_j-j.JPG","body":null,"created":"1762788014","gmt_created":"2025-11-10 15:20:14","changed":"1762788014","gmt_changed":"2025-11-10 15:20:14","alt":"Sujan Ganesh Kumar","file":{"fid":"262637","name":"SGK_j-j.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_j-j.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_j-j.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1307565,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/11\/10\/SGK_j-j.JPG?itok=fPsthAmm"}}},"media_ids":["678581","678582","678583"],"groups":[{"id":"1250","name":"Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems (CHHS)"},{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"194701","name":"go-resarchnews"},{"id":"180027","name":". ISyE"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDhanesh Amin\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}