Bio
My research interests are in pharmaceutical supply chains, supply chain risk management, healthcare operations, and drug policy.
My Ph.D. dissertation attempts to address three distinct types of risks within different segments of pharmaceutical supply chains:
safety risks in the medical care delivery process [1], security risks in the drug distribution process [2], and low efficacy risks in the drug development process [3].
In particular, it takes a people-centric approach and focuses on characterizing demand-side heterogeneity, which then informs supply-side precision interventions and targeted drug policies.
Beyond the dissertation, I continue my inquiry into security risk management and investigate potential measures to disrupt prescription opioid diversion [4].
Before joining the Ph.D. program, I worked at Novo Nordisk, bioMerieux Biotech, and Mars Food.
Research
[1] Safe and Scalable Delivery of Psychiatric Precision Medicines
(with Anant Mishra and Kingshuk Sinha)
Keywords (click to expand):
Drug safety and scalability, patient-level heterogeneity, clinical guidelines, care customization
Abstract (click to expand):
Precision medicine has the potential to profoundly improve the practice of medicine. However, its integration into routine clinical practice has been a long-standing challenge.
This study empirically examines the effect of Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) guidelines, which provide codified and actionable customized knowledge, on enabling safe and scalable delivery of precision medicines.
We combine data from multiple sources to construct a longitudinal U.S. dataset for psychiatric precision medicines across an eleven-year period. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that CPIC guidelines with high strength of evidence are associated with increased psychiatric drug safety and scalability.
Further examination indicates that the aforementioned improvements in safety and scalability from high strength CPIC guidelines are contingent on drug characteristics.
The study informs medical practices and policy making by addressing further obstacles in delivering personalized care.
[2] Supply Chain Diversion of Prescription Opioids
Keywords (click to expand):
Drug security, supply chain diversion, prescription opioids
Abstract (click to expand):
The opioid epidemic is commonly referred to as the worst drug crisis in American history.
Myriad factors that may trigger and aggravate the crisis have been examined. However, supply chain diversion of prescription opioids from legal distribution channels to illegal marketplaces has been rarely studied.
To shed light on the impact of such diversion, the study relies on the enactment of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) as an exogenous "security" shock that gives rise to a quasi-experimental design.
Exploiting cross-state variations in initial diversion level and difference-in-differences specifications, the study finds that after the "security" shock, states with higher initial diversion level experience a larger decrease in prescription opioid abuse and overdose deaths.
The results highlight the extent to which supply chain security improvements reduce opioid diversion, thereby curbing the opioid epidemic.
The study also identifies vulnerable demographic populations that are most likely susceptible to the diverted prescription opioids
and highlights the types of opioids attracting such diversion efforts.
[3] Innovation of Precision Medicines
(with Anant Mishra)
Keywords (click to expand):
Drug efficacy, patient-level heteogeneity, product customization
[4] Security Management of Prescription Opioids: Disrupting Opioid Diversion
(with Kevin Linderman)
Keywords (click to expand):
Drug security management, retail-level diversion risks, transaction customization
Teaching
2020 Spring: Introduction to Supply Chain and Operations [In-person then transition to Online]
SRT:5.5/6
"Thank a Teacher" Note (click to expand):
“Thank you for caring so much about this course. It is always very clear how much you care about students wellbeing and are passionate about the course material, which helps me be more interested too.
Especially with the transition to online, I (and my entire group) was always really impressed with how quickly you responded to questions and were accommodating to the circumstance.
Besides that, every lecture was very clear and easy to follow.”
Course Feedback (click to expand):
"She really did everything or even so much more to make sure everyone is fully understanding the contents of the course ..... I have never met any other instructors who care about students learning experience as much as she does.
I truly appreciate her to being flexible with time differences, and being super understanding!"
"I could tell she transitioned quite quickly because I thought she adapted her slides very well to online lectures. I appreciated how
she related the course to COVID–19 and how it is affecting what we are learning about. The relevance increased my interests for
the subject which aided in my desire to learn more. She also was very well organized which made study materials easy to find."
"Jingwen did a create job presenting the material and finding ways to keep the class structure as similar to our in–person lectures and did a great job!
She is VERY knowledgable. As well as accomodating our needs for exams. Jingwen very understanding and it feels as if she is truly on your side and trying to help if you ever have any questions or concerns."
