Richard Boucherie

I am a Patient Advocate of Inspire2Live. My goal is to bridge the gap between theory and practise for optimisation of logistical processes in healthcare in close collaboration between scientific researchers and healthcare professionals. I am full professor of Stochastic Operations Research at the University of Twente and specialized in decision making under uncertainty.

In 2003 my wife died shortly after being diagnosed with cancer. The medical part of the care she received was excellent. The human part of the care she received was a great support for us. However, the logistical processes that I observed during my very frequent visits to the hospital were far from optimal. Based on my expertise in mathematical optimisation of processes, I concluded that I wanted to contribute to the quality of care by improving these processes. At that point, I decided to dedicate my expertise to improving the logistical processes in healthcare.

Since 2003, my aim has been to optimise logistical processes in healthcare. In 2008, my colleague Erwin Hans and I founded the Center for Healthcare Operations Improvement & Research (CHOIR) of the University of Twente. Over the years we have conducted many research projects in collaboration with healthcare professionals. A large share of these projects resulted in practical improvements of logistical processes, amongst other on (rapid) cancer diagnostics and complex appointment and diagnostics systems. Optimising the logistical processes alleviates the work-pressure while the required care can still be delivered, so that the process is improved for both the patient and the care-giver. Optimising the logistical processes allows us to provide more care with the available resources.