ABOUT ME
Welcome! I am Blair Liu, a fourth-year PhD student at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I expect to receive my doctorate in Business Administration with a specialization in Operations in Spring 2026. My advisors are Bradley Staats and Diwas KC.
My research interests focus on data-driven healthcare analytics, emphasizing technological innovation, operational improvement, and workforce productivity. One stream of my research explores how adopting novel technologies impacts operational performance in healthcare, examining both improvements in operational outcomes and the underlying mechanisms driving these enhancements. Another stream investigates workforce attrition and productivity, with particular attention to nurse attrition in Intensive Care Units (ICUs).
My dissertation focuses on Nurse Workforce Management, specifically exploring the causes and costs of voluntary nurse attrition and evaluating the innovative staffing solution of virtual nursing.
RESEARCH INTEREST
Healthcare Operations, Worker Attrition, Technology Adoption, Workforce Productivity
Dissertation Committee
Bradley Staats (Advisor, Chair), Diwas KC (Advisor), Yuqian Xu (Chair), Vinayak Deshpande, Seyed Emadi
UNDER REVIEW PAPERS
Blair Liu, Diwas KC, Bradley Staats, Michael Fundora*. “Operational Overload: The Impact of Workload on High-Skilled Workforce Attrition,” Major Revision at Manufacturing and Service Operations Management.
Blair Liu, Yuqian Xu, Bradley Staats. “Bridging the Nursing Gap: How Virtual Nurse Adoption Impacts Patient Outcomes,” Under review.
WORKING PAPERS
Blair Liu, Diwas KC, Bradley Staats. “Discretionary Task Under Operating Performance: Evidence from Emergency Department”, Draft available upon request.
Blair Liu, Diwas KC, Bradley Staats, Michael Fundora*. “Consequences of Nurse Attrition,” Working.
Blair Liu, Yuqian Xu, Vinayak Deshpande, “The Choice and Pricing of Service Channels on Telehealth Platform”, Working.
*Denotes industry collaborator