Laura Forker, PhD

Professor

Decision & Information Sciences

Contact

508-999-9259

508-999-8646

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Charlton College of Business 205

Education

1993

Arizona State University

PhD

1987

Indiana University

1981

Cornell University

Teaching

Lean Operations in Health Care
Management of Health Care Operations
Creating Value Through Operations Analysis
Process Management
Operations Management

Teaching

Programs

Healthcare Management Online MS

Teaching

Online and Continuing Education Courses

POM 684: Lean Operations in Health Care

Introduction to transformation processes that minimize waste and maximize the value of customer care. Topics include knowledge-based design, scientific observation and continuous experimentation, small impact problem solving, employee empowerment, and other Lean techniques. Exploration of Lean in a wide variety of real world healthcare organizations is integrated into the course. POM 684 is the Capstone course for the M.S. in Healthcare management degree.
Register for this course.

Research

Research interests

Service Operations in Health Care
Managing Health Care Supply Chains
Prescription Drug Pricing
The Business of Aging

Dr. Forker is a Professor of Operations Management in the Charlton College of Business. She currently serves as the Director of the MS in Healthcare Management program.

Dr. Forker serves as the academic liaison for APICS: The Association for Operations Management’s South Shore chapter which has awarded her the APICS Board Member of the Year. She has also served as Scholar Coordinator for the APICS Scholars Education Program. Dr. Forker has been active in the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) since 1991, serving on its Board of Directors as Vice President at large, and chairing many tracks at both national and regional conferences. She co-chaired DSI's New Faculty Development Consortium in 2005.

Dr. Forker previously taught at Boston University, Michigan State University, and Indiana University. She earned her Ph.D. in business administration at Arizona State University with a concentration in Operations Management, her M.A. in Economics at Indiana University, and her A.B. at Cornell University. She has also studied overseas in Austria, Germany, and Hungary.

Professor Forker was awarded the Lifetime Certificate in Purchasing Management by the Institute for Supply Management in 2011. She has been inducted into the honorary organizations: Sigma Phi Omega (Gerontology honor society, 2006), Beta Gamma Sigma (Business honor society, 2001), Phi Chi Theta (honored as Teacher of the Year, 1993), Alpha Iota Delta (Decision Sciences honor society, 1991), and Sigma Iota Epsilon (Management honor society, 1989).