The INFORMS® President's Award recognizes important contributions to the welfare of society. Professor Kaplan was selected for his outstanding contributions to AIDS and HIV research. He has spent more than 15 years developing methods to evaluate policies to manage the AIDS epidemic and prevent the spread of HIV, and conducted an influential series of studies evaluating the impact of needle exchange programs. The INFORMS® distinction also recognizes Professor Kaplan for his recent study on how best to vaccinate the public in the event of a massive smallpox attack.
Upon learning of this honor, Professor Kaplan explained, "Many of us who focus on social and policy issues do so out of a desire to make the world a better place, coupled with a belief that in certain instances we just might pull it off! In this light, I am very pleased to receive the INFORMS® President's Award, but also humbled given the accomplishments of previous recipients."
Among past recipients were several scholars who influenced Kaplan's work. In addition, he stated, "I especially want to thank my Ph.D. mentor Dick Larson from MIT for introducing me to public sector applications of operations research 25 years ago; Alvin Novick from Yale's biology department who encouraged me to pursue the needle exchange studies and HIV/AIDS problems more generally at a time when it was not popular to do so; Rob Heimer from Yale's School of Public Health for collaborating on the key needle exchange studies; and most recently Larry Wein at Stanford's Graduate School of Business for embracing with incredible energy and skill our joint adventure in bioterror policy modeling." He also expressed gratitude for the faculty and administration at the Yale School of Management and the Yale School of Public Health, explaining "while my work is not typical of either setting, I have been warmly supported by both."
In presenting the award, Michael A. Trick, President of INFORMS®, said "Kaplan's work on using the methods of Operations Research and the Management Sciences to address some of the most pressing issues in public health and medicine of our time makes this award particularly deserving." In addition, he credited Kaplan for his work to "improve social welfare through a better understanding of effective prevention and treatment of AIDS and other diseases."
Biographical
Professor Edward H. Kaplan is the William N. and Marie A. Beach Professor of Management Sciences at the Yale School of Management and Professor of Public Health at the Yale School of Medicine. Among his numerous honors, he has received the Lanchester Prize and Edelman Award, two of the top awards in the field of Operations Research. He was the 2001 Naor Lecturer of the Operations Research Society of Israel, and has also twice received the prestigious Lady Davis Visiting Professorship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he investigated AIDS policy issues facing the State of Israel. Professor Kaplan served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the Advisory Board at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, and the Committee on HIV Prevention Strategy at the Institute of Medicine. Professor Kaplan earned his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after earning S.M. degrees in Statistics, Operations Research, and a Master's in City Planning (M.C.P.) there. He received his B.A. with First Class Honors from McGill University. Professor Kaplan's research has been reported on the front pages of the New York Times and the Jerusalem Post, editorialized in the Wall Street Journal, and cited in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Consumer Reports, and the New Yorker. He has also been a guest on NBC's Today Show, the Cronkite Report, and National Public Radio.
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) is an international scientific society with over 10,000 members dedicated to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making, management, and operations. Members of INFORMS® work in business, government, and academia. They are represented in fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, the stock market, and telecommunications. 2002 is the 50th anniversary of organized operations research in the United States. 1952 was the year that the journal Operations Research and the Operations Research Society of America, one of the founding societies of INFORMS®, were born. The INFORMS website is at http://www.informs.org.