Rutgers professor aims to apply principles of supply chain management to fix hospital operations.

Faculty Snapshot: Finding a remedy for health care's struggles

Xin (David) Ding

Assistant professor of Supply Chain Management, program director for the Masters of Science in Healthcare Management and Analytics program

Expertise: Healthcare operations management. His research examines the supply and demand relationship in healthcare with focuses on efficiency, clinical quality and patient outcomes.

What he’s working on: His new research applies the value chain framework to study potential ways to increase hospital revenues through process coordination, patient involvement and the cultivation of a patient safety environment.

Favorite book: The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt and Jeff Cox. “It’s a classic book using life to demonstrate what operations management is all about.”

What he does for fun: Plays golf; runs.

How did he become interested in academia: “I have to go back roughly 15 years ago when I was getting a masters degree. I had just started working in manufacturing. I got exposure to a lot of industries and I learned that many companies have new technology, but still struggle to make a profit. It’s not the people at the company, it’s how they’re managed. I wanted to look at how I could manage better so I went for a Ph.D. in operations management. That led me to doing research and teaching. I enjoy both very much.”

Rutgers Business School professor Xin (David) Ding.
Professor Xin (David) Ding applies operations management expertise to teach students how to better manage businesses.

How does he stay current: “By staying involved with industry.”

How important is supply chain in health care: “It’s very important. In New York City, one hospital has closed each year during the past 15 years. According to multiple studies by Morgan Stanley and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, more than 500 hospitals are at risk of closing. While physicians and nurses traditionally have been trained to take care of clinical needs from patients, they don’t necessarily know how to manage operations and businesses well. With the transition from volume-based care to value-based care, supply chain concepts can help care providers maximize value through the optimization of their resource allocations.”

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