{"689213":{"#nid":"689213","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Meghan Meredith Recognized with IISE Award for Maternal Health Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMeghan Meredith (IE Ph.D. 2025, Operations Research), has been named the\u0026nbsp;first-place winner of the Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award by the \u003Cstrong\u003EInstitute of Industrial and Systems Engineers \u003C\/strong\u003E(IISE)\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Efor her dissertation,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003E\u201cOperations Research for Improved and Equitable Maternal Health.\u201d\u003C\/em\u003E The recognition highlights the impact of her work in applying operations research to one of the most pressing healthcare challenges in the United States: poor maternal health outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy dissertation focused on maternal health in the U.S., particularly in Georgia,\u201d Meredith said. \u201cWomen are experiencing maternal morbidity and mortality at much higher rates than in other high-income countries. There are also significant racial, ethnic, and rural-urban disparities. All of this points to systemic issues in how maternal healthcare is provided.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeredith\u2019s research combined data analysis, modeling, and policy-focused tools to understand and improve access to obstetric care. A major focus was how access is measured and how to use existing resources more effectively.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOne widely used metric, \u2018maternity care deserts,\u2019 looks at access by county,\u201d she explained. \u201cBut in Georgia, someone might be labeled as lacking care even if a hospital is just a mile across the county line. We realized that this metric was measuring the wrong thing in Georgia. Our work focuses on providing actionable insights to policymakers so they can ensure women have high-quality care nearby.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer research was motivated by the urgent need to address poor maternal outcomes in Georgia, which ranks among the worst states in the U.S. for both maternal mortality and racial disparities. \u201cWe see that half of women who die due to pregnancy-related causes die after delivery,\u201d Meredith said. \u201cPregnancy is a critical opportunity to engage women in their healthcare, and it\u2019s essential to focus on both maternal and fetal health.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeredith\u2019s contributions aim to bridge the gap between complex operations research models and real-world healthcare decision making. \u201cWe want to take the guesswork out of policy decisions,\u201d she said. \u201cIf a hospital closes or receives funding, our models can estimate the impact on care access and outcomes.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReceiving the IISE award underscores the impact of Meredith\u2019s research. \u201cWe were so focused on improving maternal health in Georgia,\u201d she said. \u201cThis recognition shows that meaningful healthcare research can also advance the field of operations research and industrial engineering.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeredith credits much of her success to her advisor, Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/users\/lauren-steimle\u0022\u003ELauren Steimle\u003C\/a\u003E, who nominated her for the award and provided guidance throughout her PhD program, which she began during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cHer support was critical, especially during the first year and a half of online learning and isolation,\u201d Meredith said. She also highlighted the importance of her women-led team of collaborators, including physicians and epidemiologists, working on this women-centered research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECurrently a postdoctoral researcher at NYU Langone Health, Meredith is applying her expertise to organ transplant policy, a field where operations research directly informs life-saving decisions. \u201cAccess, efficiency, and equity are still central themes,\u201d she said. \u201cThe goal is to use powerful tools to improve care outcomes wherever they\u2019re needed most.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeghan Meredith (IE Ph.D. 2025, Operations Research), winner of IISE\u2019s Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award, uses operations research to uncover maternal health disparities in Georgia and help policymakers improve access to care.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Her award-winning research addresses maternal health disparities in Georgia, providing data-driven insights to improve access and outcomes for women."}],"uid":"36736","created_gmt":"2026-03-27 13:22:43","changed_gmt":"2026-03-27 19:50:41","author":"ebrown386","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-03-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-03-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"679753":{"id":"679753","type":"image","title":"Meghan Meredith","body":null,"created":"1774618423","gmt_created":"2026-03-27 13:33:43","changed":"1774618495","gmt_changed":"2026-03-27 13:34:55","alt":"Meghan Meredith","file":{"fid":"263952","name":"Meghan-meredith.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/27\/Meghan-meredith.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/03\/27\/Meghan-meredith.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":76216,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/03\/27\/Meghan-meredith.jpg?itok=XHJxJjGA"}}},"media_ids":["679753"],"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":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"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\u003EErin Whitlock Brown, Communications Manager II\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}