2020 saw the inauguration of a new year-end community project initiative for the Desautels Faculty of Management’s Master of Management in Analytics. With many workplaces shut and much of Canada’s economy reeling from the public-health crisis, the MMA saw an opportunity to help local businesses and other organizations adapt by pairing them with MMA grad students to solve their data analytics problems or create data management solutions remotely.
Last year, students Omar Chehab, Katia Sory, Victoria McKeown and Kyle Gomes assisted the Montreal Children’s Hospital in solving data analytics difficulties brought on by telehealth solutions with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before COVID-19, only four percent of primary care visits in Canada were conducted virtually (by phone, video, text or app); this number has since increased to 60 percent, according to Canada Health Infoway.1
“When COVID hit, we couldn’t see patients” on site, except for urgent cases, says Adrian Dancea, head of the pediatric cardiology division at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. “So overnight we were kind of entering a new paradigm. COVID gave a big push to telehealth.”
MMA students virtually established data management and analytics systems for the Montreal Children’s Hospital; including machine-learning algorithms, building data dashboards designed to predict five years into the future, identifying usage patterns and streamlining supplies of PPE (personal protective equipment) like masks, gowns and gloves. This helped the hospital progress into the new normal with more efficiency and greater knowledge of what to expect.
At the end of the project between the Children’s and the MMA program, Dr. Dancea expressed that the partnership “needs to continue and needs to expand…this should only be the beginning." Sure enough, the Montreal Children’s Hospital is back again to participate in the 2021 program starting in June.
“The MMA gives our students the chance to work with large corporate clients and smaller community clients,” explains MMA program director Shoeb Hosain. “This year, we are hoping to increase our efforts more broadly throughout Montreal and Canada as we’re committed to giving back more to NGOs, non-profits and small businesses facing challenging situations.”
If you’re interested in participating and have data analytics or data management problems that need solving or have any questions about the MMA Gives community projects you can mma [at] mcgil.ca (email our team).
mma [at] mcgill.ca (subject: MMA%20Gives) (The deadline to submit your project proposal is April 30th, 2021).
More about our MMA
The McGill Master of Management in Analytics (MMA) degree is a pre-experience, specialized program in analytics that can be completed in 1 year or 1.5 years.
- Learn more about our MMA Program
