Yih, a professor of industrial engineering, will work on a project titled "Demand sensing and digital tracking for maternal and child health in Uganda".

Yih’s team is working to save the lives of mothers giving birth by developing a better, more efficient supply system for essential medications and supplies. The project will gather critical supply data – now kept in registries on index card-sized stock cards – and do targeted transformations into electronic form that can be used for predicting models and managing the supply chain, which is a lengthy process going from local hospitals to the district supplier and then to the national store.

Also involved are Seokcheon Lee, associate professor of industrial engineering; Paul Griffin, St. Vincent Health Chair of Healthcare Engineering, director of the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering and professor of industrial engineering; MD Munirul Haque, research scientist for the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering; and Andrea Burniske, program manager of innovation for the Office of Global Engineering Program’s International Development Laboratory. Resilient Africa Network (RAN) and Management Sciences for Health (MSH) also are collaborating in the project.

Yih is one of two Purdue University College of Engineering professors who will pursue innovative global health and development research projects funded by the foundation. The other winner is Craig Goergen, assistant professor in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, who will undertake a project titled "Wearable low-cost automated supine pressor test for prediction of preeclampsia." 

The Yih and Goergen projects are two of 51 Grand Challenges Explorations Round 19 grants announced by the foundation. 

To receive funding, GCE winners demonstrated in a two-page online application a bold idea in one of four critical global heath and development topic areas. Grand Challenges Explorations supports innovative thinkers worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges. The foundation will accept applications for the next GCE round in February 2018.

Writer: DeEtte Starr, starrd@purdue.edu