People

“My hope is that I can contribute to business practice not just through my research, but through the people I connect with each other.”

Celia Stafford (she/her) has always been intrigued by author William Gibson’s assertion that the future has already arrived—it’s just not evenly distributed. “There is so much knowledge and expertise in the world, but it’s useless unless we can connect it all,” she explains. “My hope is that I can contribute to business practice not just through my research, but through the people I connect with each other.”

Through her experience in biostatistics, cybersecurity, and clinical research, Celia started developing key questions about management of the healthcare system in the United States. “At a broad level, I’m interested in how to make processes more efficient and people happier,” she says. “Healthcare is an ideal arena from a modeling standpoint because there are so many nonlinear feedbacks.” She has found HBS to be an equally ideal setting for her interests because of the especially interdisciplinary nature of the doctoral programs. What’s more, the unparalleled access to resources both within and beyond Harvard has opened a plethora of research opportunities to her.

Reflecting on the path that has led her to HBS, Celia admits that hers wasn’t what she had imagined was typical of a Harvard Student.. “I grew up in a very rural area, got my master’s degree from a state school. It’s meant so much to be told that my voice matters, to be given the opportunity to make a real impact on people’s lives.”

Research

Celia’s primary interest lies in system dynamics modeling, studying how feedback loops can be either reinforcing or balancing. “In a healthcare setting, there is a clear feedback loop between patient and physician satisfaction, which can be either vicious or virtuous,” she explains. “When physicians are dissatisfied or burnt out, patient satisfaction is negatively impacted, which reinforces physician’s dissatisfaction. I’m interested in finding interventions that will disrupt that reinforcing loop and increase satisfaction for both patients and physicians.”