Isabelle Rao

Isabelle Rao is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE). 

Previously, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at INSEAD in the Technology and Operations Management Area, where she worked with Professor Stephen Chick in the Healthcare Management Initiative.

She received her PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, where she was advised by Professor Margaret Brandeau.  Her research focuses on developing novel mathematical models to inform critical decisions in public health and personalized medicine. In particular, she develops interpretable models to provide actionable insights for operational and policy decisions in healthcare. Recently, her work has focused on the areas of COVID-19, opioid abuse, and epidemic control. By integrating tools from operations research, epidemiology, computer science, and health economics, her research aims to address gaps in current approaches in healthcare modeling.