Atahan Bayir, a PhD student in the Department of Management Science and Engineering and a member of the Health AI and Analytics Lab, received the 2026 Fraser Research Award.
Co-supervised by Dr. Safa Erenay and Dr. Sibel Alumur Alev, Atahan was recognized for his outstanding research on vascular access device selection and infection prevention in hospital settings. The Fraser Research Award is awarded annually to the author of the best research paper written by a MASc or PhD student in the Department of Management Sciences and Engineering during the previous three academic terms.
Atahan's research addresses the challenge of reducing catheter-associated bloodstream infections (CABSIs), a significant and largely preventable source of patient harm in healthcare. Clinicians must choose among multiple vascular access devices, including peripheral venous catheters (PVCs), peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs), and central venous catheters (CVCs), while balancing treatment needs, patient safety, and uncertainty in patient length of stay.
To support these decisions, Atahan developed a Markov Decision Process (MDP) framework that models catheter selection over time while accounting for infection risk, catheter failure, and uncertainty in hospitalization duration. The study provides both analytical insights and practical decision-support tools for healthcare providers and managers.
Using data from neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in China and Turkey, the research demonstrated that the proposed policy could reduce expected infection rates by 60–88% while substantially lowering infection-related costs compared with current clinical practices. The study also showed that relatively simple implementation strategies can achieve most of the benefits of the fully optimized approach, making the findings highly relevant for real-world healthcare settings.
Congratulations to Atahan on this outstanding achievement!