Buyun Li

Buyun studies healthcare operations, focusing on how the dynamic interplay between provider capacity and patient demand creates self-reinforcing interdependencies in care delivery. His research centers on two main areas. In pain operations management, he uses large-scale healthcare data to evaluate early pain management interventions and design referral policies that prioritize patients who benefit most from scarce specialist appointments. In infection-aware nurse staffing, he develops models that capture how staffing decisions interact with disease transmission to mitigate infection-driven absenteeism and strengthen workforce resilience during outbreaks. Together, these projects aim to break harmful feedback loops in healthcare delivery, improve system performance, and enhance patient outcomes.

Beyond healthcare applications, Buyun also develops technical models and methodology for service operations, with a particular interest in incorporating learning mechanisms, such as Bayesian learning, into scheduling and capacity decisions.

Buyun received his Ph.D. in operations management and decision science from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He also holds an M.S. from the S.C. Johnson College of Business at Cornell University and a B.A. in Business and Economics from the University of Queensland.

Education

• University of Queensland, B.A.; Beijing International Studies University, B.Sc.
• Cornell University, M.Sc
• Indiana University, Ph.D.

Research Interests

• Pain management operations
• Healthcare operations
• Service operations