John Blake

Dr. John Blake is a Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Dalhousie University. Dr. Blake received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and a PhD from the University of Toronto in 1988 and 1997, respectively. After completing his doctorate, he took a position at Dalhousie University in Halifax in the Department of Industrial Engineering. Since 2011, Dr. Blake has been seconded to Canadian Blood Services where he acts as a research engineer and staff scientist. 

Dr. Blake is a past President of the Canadian Operational Research Society. He is active in the Health Applications Section of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science, having acted as chair of the section in 2003. Dr. Blake is also a member of the Canadian Society of Transfusion Medicine, the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia, and the Institute of Industrial Engineers. 

Research areas

• process engineering
• operational research
• blood collection
• blood components distribution​  

Awards

• Canadian Operational Research Society, Service Award, 2002
• Dalhousie Industrial Engineering Students Teaching Award, 2003
• Dalhousie Industrial Engineering Students Teaching Award, 2013
• Best health care paper, Industrial and Systems Engineering Research Conference, 2014
• Dalhousie Industrial Engineering Students Teaching Award, 2017
• IISE Student Society Professor of the Year Teaching Award, 2019
• Best paper, 24th International Joint Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, 2019
• Best poster, 12th International Conference on Simulation and Modelling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications, 2022
• Best poster, 13th International Conference on Simulation and Modelling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications, 2023
• Feature article, Transfusion, November 2023 issue

Other appointments

• Member, Blood Shortage Working Group, 2014–current.
• Chair, Atlantic section, Canadian Operational Research Society, 2014–current.
• Chair, Health Care Special Interest Group, National Advisory Council on Blood, 2012–2014.

Research interests

Dr. John Blake works in the area of applied operations research. He uses engineering principles and methods to model, evaluate and improve operations and processes at Canadian Blood Services. His interests include perishable inventory, logistics, network design, and stem cell matching. Dr. Blake’s technical interests include simulation, mathematical programming, statistical analysis, and object-oriented programming.