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For his pioneering contributions to the field of health-care engineering, Professor Michael Carter has received the President’s Impact Award.

A professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Carter has been applying industrial engineering principles to improve health-care systems and processes in Canada for three decades. He has research partnerships with hospitals throughout the GTA, provincial and federal governments across Canada, aimed at maximizing health-care resources. His research has been applied nationwide to improve such areas as surgical scheduling and modelling future demand for health-care procedures and practitioners.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the critical role that industrial and systems engineers can play in our health-care system,” Carter says. “The weak links in our supply chain, the issues around vaccine delivery and the general need for better collaboration and information sharing have highlighted current challenges.

“Things are much better than they were 30 years ago when I started a movement to get engineers and systems thinking into our health care system, but we still have a long way to go. I am so very proud of my many health-care colleagues and the hundreds of former students who are doing today’s important work. It is my privilege and honour to have helped to create the foundation you are standing on today.”

The pandemic has underscored "how crucial it is to have an optimized health-care system before a crisis strikes,” said Chris Yip, dean of U of T Engineering. “On behalf of U of T Engineering, I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Professor Michael Carter, whose career-long commitment to health-care engineering has helped to improve the lives of people across the country and around the world.”