Edward W. Chan

Senior Operations Researcher

Santa Monica Office

Education

Ph.D. in operations research, Cornell University

One Page Bio

Overview

Edward Chan is a senior operations researcher at the RAND Corporation. He applies techniques such as process mapping, failure mode analysis, and mathematical modeling to a variety of readiness and preparedness problems in the security arena, be that homeland security, national security, or health security. He has conducted vulnerability analyses on aviation and maritime security, personnel screening processes, and election cybersecurity. He has developed performance measures in the areas of public health, hospital preparedness, and homeland security. He has led studies on military medical care including planning expeditionary care and aeromedical evacuation, increasing hospital surge capacity, and examining options for maintaining clinical currency. Chan earned his Bachelor's degree, Master's degree, and Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell University.

Research Focus

Previous Positions

Medical Countermeasures Planner, Emergency Planning and Response Division, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health; Research Health Scientist, Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center, US Department of Veterans Affairs

Selected Publications

Chan, Edward W.; Krull, Heather; Ahluwalia, Sangeeta C.; Broyles, James R.; Waxman, Daniel A.; Gurvey, Jill; Colthirst, Paul M.; Schimmels, JoEllen.; Marinos, Anthony, Options for Maintaining Clinical Proficiency During Peacetime, RAND (RR-2543-A), 2020

Abir, Mahshid.; Nelson, Christopher D.; Chan, Edward W.; Al Ibrahim, Hamad; Cutter, Christina; Patel, Karishma; Bogart, Andy., Critical Care Surge Response Strategies for the 2020 COVID-19 Outbreak in the United States, RAND (RR-A164-1), 2020

Hodgson, Quentin E.; Kavanagh, Jennifer; Chan, Edward Wei-Min; Sovak, Christine, Options for Ensuring Safe Elections: Preparing for Elections During a Pandemic, RAND (RR-A112-10), 2020

Towe, Vivian L.; Petrun Sayers, Elizabeth L. ; Chan, Edward W. ; Kim, Alice Y. ; Tom, Ashlyn; Chan, Wing Yi ; Marquis, Jefferson P. ; Robbins, Michael W. ; Saum-Manning, Lisa ; Weden, Margaret M.; Payne, Leslie Adrienne , Community Planning and Capacity Building in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria, RAND (RR-2598), 2020

Williams, Heather J. ; Van Abel, Kristin ; Metz, David; Marrone, James V. ; Chan, Edward W. ; Costello, Katherine ; Bauer, Ryan; Hill, Devon; Veronneau, Simon ; Chang, Joseph C.; Mitch, Ian; Traub, Joshua Lawrence ; Soliman, Sarah; Haldeman, Zachary; Klim, The Risk-Mitigation Value of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential: A Comprehensive Security Assessment of the TWIC Program, RAND (RR-3096), 2020

Mouton, Christopher A.; Chan, Edward Wei-Min; Grissom, Adam; Godges, John.; Ahtchi, Badreddine.; Dougherty, Brian K., Personnel Recovery in the AFRICOM Area of Responsibility: Cost-Effective Options for Improvement, RAND (RR-2161z1), 2019

Jackson BA, Chan EW, LaTourrette T, "Assessing the Security Benefits of a Trusted Traveler Program in the Presence of Attempted Attacker Exploitation and Compromise," Journal of Transportation Security, 5, 2012

Peltz E, Cox A, Chan EW, Hart GE, Sommerhauser D, Hawkins C , Connor KL, Improving DLA Supply Chain Agility: Lead Times, Order Quantities, and Information Flow, RAND (RR-822-OSD), 2014

Commentary

Rebuild Public Health for the Next Pandemic?
COVID-19 exposed how underprepared the United States was for a pandemic and raised questions about preparedness for the next one. With political will to spend money on public health, how can America take a holistic view of all the options? And how should investments be prioritized?
Aug 6, 2021 The RAND Blog
Prepare for Disaster
Published commentary by RAND staff: Prepare for Disaster in the United Press International.
Sep 27, 2005 United Press International

Publications

Report
Assessing Risk to the National Critical Functions as a Result of Climate Change
Researchers developed a framework to assess and manage the risk that climate change poses to National Critical Functions, then used the framework to assess the most-vulnerable ones. This report details the risk assessment portions of the framework.
Apr 5, 2022
Report
Health and Social Services in Puerto Rico Before and After Hurricane Maria: Predisaster Conditions, Hurricane Damage, and Themes for Recovery
This overview of health and social services in Puerto Rico includes 31 courses of action to better recover from health crises, build a more resilient system to future disasters, and actively promote health and well-being.
Sep 30, 2020
Report
Community Planning and Capacity Building in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria: Predisaster Conditions, Hurricane Damage, and Courses of Action
The authors detail the status of Puerto Rico's communities leading up to Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the storms' impact on them, and 15 courses of action to improve their capacity for emergency preparedness, communication, and recovery planning.
Sep 30, 2020
Report
Securing U.S. Elections Against Cyber Threats: Considerations for Supply Chain Risk Management
The supply chain for components of U.S. election systems and equipment is at the core of election security. The authors of this Perspective describe the supply chain–related risks to election cybersecurity and integrity and how they can be managed.
Sep 22, 2020
Report
Options for Ensuring Safe Elections: Preparing for Elections During a Pandemic
Voting and registration options can help ensure safe elections despite the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Each option has advantages; challenges; and different levels of risk regarding safety, integrity, access, and logistics.
Aug 5, 2020
Report
Options for Maintaining Clinical Proficiency During Peacetime
The U.S. Army Medical Department cares for war wounded during conflict and operates medical treatment facilities that care for service members, their beneficiaries, and military retirees. How can the Army help providers prepare at home for wartime?
May 19, 2020
Report
The Risk-Mitigation Value of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential: A Comprehensive Security Assessment of the TWIC Program
The Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) is designed to enhance security at U.S. ports. This report provides the findings from an assessment of the TWIC program, along with the assessors' recommendations.
May 13, 2020
Research Brief
Critical Care Surge Capacity in U.S. Hospitals: Strategies for Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic
In this brief, the authors present methods for creating critical care surge capacity in hospitals in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and estimate patient capacity, given the number of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, ventilators, and beds.
May 5, 2020
Report
Critical Care Surge Response Strategies for the 2020 COVID-19 Outbreak in the United States
In this report, the authors present strategies for creating critical care surge capacity in hospitals and estimate patient capacity, given the number of available critical care doctors and nurses, respiratory therapists, ventilators, and beds.
Apr 3, 2020
Tool
RAND Critical Care Surge Response Tool: An Excel-Based Model for Helping Hospitals Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis
A Microsoft Excel-based tool that allows decisionmakers at all levels -- hospitals, health care systems, states, regions -- responding to the COVID-19 crisis to estimate current critical care capacity and rapidly explore strategies for increasing it.
Apr 3, 2020
Report
Personnel Recovery in the AFRICOM Area of Responsibility: Cost-Effective Options for Improvement
This report identifies the most cost-effective options for improving medical rescue capabilities in U.S. Africa Command's area of responsibility.
Aug 27, 2019
Report
Core Competencies for Amputation Rehabilitation
The authors identify core competencies and behaviors in nine provider disciplines that participate in amputation rehabilitation and offer recommendations on how to implement them in the military health setting.
Jun 3, 2019
Journal Article
Assessing and Improving Hospital Mass-Casualty Preparedness: A No-Notice Exercise
An exercise developed for hospitals helps them assess and improve their readiness for mass casualty incidents.
Dec 1, 2017
Report
Inventory Reduction Without Regret: Balancing Storage and Rebuy Costs
The Army should assess the cost of inventory not on its total dollar value but instead on long-term factors such as storage costs, repair costs, and the risk of rebuy.
Jun 17, 2015
Journal Article
Wearing Many Hats: Lessons About Emergency Preparedness and Routine Public Health from the H1N1 Response
Describes some of the challenges the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) faced during the pH1N1 response associated with simultaneous operation of emergency and routine operations.
Apr 7, 2015
Report
Improving DLA Supply Chain Agility: Lead Times, Order Quantities, and Information Flow
This report examines how the Defense Logistics Agency could improve its supply chain agility, focusing on reducing lead times, right-sizing order quantities, and mitigating the effects of demand shifts through improved customer information flow.
Jan 5, 2015
Report
Efficient Aviation Security: Strengthening the Analytic Foundation for Making Air Transportation Security Decisions
Presents a set of analyses intended to help fill some of the current gaps in analysis of the costs, benefits, and efficiency of aviation security measures and strategies in the face of uncertainty.
Aug 21, 2012
Report
Improving Joint Expeditionary Medical Planning Tools Based on a Patient Flow Approach
The authors propose a planning concept for U.S. military expeditionary medical care that promotes patient flow rate as the common unit of measurement for treatment and evacuation functions.
Apr 24, 2012
Report
Analysis of the Cities Readiness Initiative
Examines (1) the status of communities' capability to deliver medical countermeasures within 48 hours of a federal decision to deploy assets and (2) whether the Cities Readiness Initiative has improved communities' capability to meet that goal.
Mar 27, 2012
Journal Article
Assessing the Security Benefits of a Trusted Traveler Program in the Presence of Attempted Attacker Exploitation and Compromise
Examines the security costs and benefits of a trusted traveler program, in which individuals who have been identified as posing less risk than others are allowed to pass through security checkpoints with reduced security screening.
Mar 1, 2012
Draft
Assessing the Security Benefits of a Trusted Traveler Program in the Presence of Attempted Attacker Exploitation and Compromise
Examines the security costs and benefits of a trusted traveler program, in which individuals who have been identified as posting less risk than others are allowed to pass through security with reduced security screening.
May 25, 2011
Report
The Economics of Air Force Medical Service Readiness
To transition rapidly to wartime service, Air Force Medical Service critical-care providers need suitable peacetime training opportunities, and this work must be properly attributed to AFMS so that it receives proper credit in budget distributions.
Jan 12, 2011
Journal Article
Developing National Standards for Public Health Emergency Preparedness with a Limited Evidence Base
National performance standards for public health preparedness can be developed based on existing evidence, but would be helped immensely by a stronger evidence base.
Dec 1, 2010
Journal Article
Federal Initiative Increases Community Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies
This article describes an evaluation of the Cities Readiness Initiative, a federal program to improve communities' ability to dispense medications rapidly during emergencies.
2010
Draft
Decision-Making Modules for the RSS-POD Supply Management Game: A Game-Based Assessment of Crisis Decision Making During Inventory Management and Distribution of Medical Countermeasures
Introduces and explains two new modules for the RSS-POD Supply Chain Management Game, an Excel-based computer simulation game designed to provide practice in managing inventories of medical countermeasures during a largescale public health emergency.
Oct 11, 2009
Draft
The RSS-POD Supply Chain Management Game: An Exercise for Improving the Inventory Management and Distribution of Medical Countermeasures
Introduces and explains the RSS-POD Supply Chain Management Game, a Microsoft Excel-based simulation game designed to provide practice in managing inventory of medical countermeasures during large-scale public health emergency.
Sep 25, 2009
Report
New Tools for Assessing State and Local Capabilities for Countermeasure Delivery
Presents assessments that test five critical elements of state and local health departments' capability to deliver countermeasures to the population under rapid timeframes.
Sep 3, 2009
Draft
A Workshop Template to Assess and Improve SNS Planning
Contains a template that public health agencies can use to conduct a workshop to improve key aspects of Strategic National Stockpile planning: pediatric dispensing, altered standards of care, and allocation of scarce resources.
Aug 4, 2009
Research Brief
Are Communities Ready to Conduct Rapid and Large-Scale Dispensing of Medications During a Public Health Emergency?
This research highlight summarizes the findings of RAND's initial evaluation of the Cities Readiness Initiative and the program's impact on communities' readiness to conduct mass dispensing of medications and other medical supplies.
Apr 1, 2009
Report
How Should Air Force Expeditionary Medical Capabilities Be Expressed?
A new metric for measuring expeditionary medical support based on the medical STEP rate of each component of the system -- a more accurate measure of capability than the current measure, number of beds.
Feb 24, 2009
Report
Initial Evaluation of the Cities Readiness Initiative
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked RAND to provide an initial evaluation of the impact of the Cities Readiness Initiative on awardees' readiness and capability to conduct mass countermeasure dispensing.
Jan 30, 2009
Research Brief
A Step Forward in Accountability for Public Health Emergency Preparedness: Developing Standards for Mass Antibiotic Dispensing
This fact sheet summarizes the results of a RAND initiative to develop performance standards for distributing antibiotics and other lifesaving medical countermeasures on a large scale within the critical first 48 hours of a public health emergency.
Nov 10, 2008
Report
Recommended Infrastructure Standards for Mass Antibiotic Dispensing
This report presents recommended standards for points of dispensing (or PODs), locations where the public would receive life-saving antibiotics or other medical countermeasures during a large-scale public health emergency.
Sep 29, 2008
Journal Article
How Can We Strengthen the Evidence Base in Public Health Preparedness?
In this article, the authors argue that initial funding priorities for public health systems research on preparedness should focus on using engineering-style methods to identify core preparedness processes, developing novel data sources and measures based on smaller-scale proxy events, and developing performance improvement approaches to support the translation of research into practice within the wide variety of public health systems found in the nation.
2008
Draft
Enhancing Public Health Preparedness: Exercises, Exemplary Practices, and Lessons Learned, Phase III: Task E: Approaches for Developing a Volunteer Program to Respond to Public Health Emergencies
Lays out strategies and approaches for establishing or expanding a volunteer program to build workforce surge capacity in the event of a public health emergency.
Dec 9, 2007
Draft
Improving Global Influenza Surveillance: Strategies for the U.S. Government
Identifies strategies for improving global influenza surveillance and suggests practical steps that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services might consider for implementing them.
May 3, 2007
Report
Implementing Security Improvement Options at Los Angeles International Airport
Reasserting the need for reducing the density of people in unsecured areas at Los Angeles International Airport, the authors advise that adding security film to the tempered windows will likely not reduce fatalities in the event of a bomb detonation.
Feb 16, 2006
Research Brief
New Analytic Tools Evaluate Overseas Combat Support Basing Options for the U.S. Air Force
RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF) developed a set of analytic tools that can be used to evaluate various storage options to meet a given set of operational scenarios.
Nov 25, 2005
Report
Near-Term Options for Improving Security at Los Angeles International Airport
Examining near-term options for reducing the terrorist threat to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), this study assesses LAX’s vulnerability to a wide range of possible terrorist actions and examines possible alternative courses of action.
Sep 23, 2004
Report
Supporting Air and Space Expeditionary Forces: Lessons from Operation Enduring Freedom
Presents an analysis of Air Force combat support experiences associated with Operation Enduring Freedom and compares these experiences with those associated with Operation Allied Force (OAF) to determine similarities and applicability of lessons across ex
2004
Report
Supporting Air and Space Expeditionary Forces: Analysis of Combat Support Basing Options
Evaluates global forward support locations (FSLs) for storing war reserve materiel and presents a framework for evaluating FSL options.
2004