{"id":1205,"date":"2026-05-19T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/ise\/?p=1205"},"modified":"2026-05-19T12:07:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:07:40","slug":"lis-app-removes-vaccine-barriers-for-tn-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/ise\/lis-app-removes-vaccine-barriers-for-tn-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Li\u2019s App Removes Vaccine Barriers for TN Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vaccines help the immune system to recognize and fight many types of diseases, from viral illnesses like COVID-19 to bacterial infections like tetanus. In 2024, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that routine childhood immunizations had prevented more than 1.1 million child deaths over the past 30 years.<\/p>\n

Yet in 2021, one of four children in Tennessee under two years old had not received all their CDC-recommended vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompared to other states, we\u2019re not doing a good job with childhood vaccinations,\u201d said Xueping Li, a professor and Dan Doulet Faculty Fellow in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE).<\/p>\n

Li is an expert in complex system modeling and optimization. For the last 20 years, he has been applying his expertise to healthcare as co-director of the Health Innovations Technology and Simulation (HITS) Lab<\/a> housed within the University of Tennessee College of Nursing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an industrial engineer, I have always had a passion for solving problems, and the healthcare system is very complicated,\u201d Li said. \u201cThere are dozens of pieces that all have to work together. If there\u2019s a problem, you cannot look at only one piece. You need to look at the system holistically to come up with a solution that works.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the TN Department of Health (TDH) put out a call for solutions to improve childhood immunization rates, Li and his colleagues at HITS knew they needed a way to efficiently tackle multiple barriers. Their answer is SmartSHOTS<\/a>, a vaccine tracking and information smartphone application based on the specific needs of Tennessee families.<\/p>\n

SmartSHOTS combines systems-level thinking with expertise in coding, health science, public science communication, and user-friendly design to create a convenient app with big potential to improve health outcomes for Tennessee children.<\/p>\n

\"SmartSHOTS<\/p>\n

In addition to Li, the SmartSHOTS leadership team includes UT College of Nursing Dean Victoria Niederhauser<\/a> and Associate Dean of Research Tami Wyatt<\/a>; School of Design Director Sarah Lowe<\/a>, a user interface expert in the College of Architecture and Design; and linguistics experts from the College of Media and Communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very diverse team, so each of us brings a different angle to look at this problem,\u201d Li said. \u201cI think that will contribute to a more effective solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

With funding from the TDH, the SmartSHOTS team conducted statewide surveys to identify the biggest barriers faced by caregivers who want to vaccinate their young children, then constructed their app to address each one.<\/p>\n

Results from the app\u2019s beta test\u2014including enthusiastic feedback from caregivers\u2014were published<\/a> in the international Health Informatics Journal this January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beta tester feedback was incredibly rewarding,\u201d Li said. \u201cSmartSHOTS was built through close collaboration with nurses, engineers, public health experts, designers, and community partners, so seeing such strong validation from users affirmed both our approach and the real need for this solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Identifying Barriers to Vaccination<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To identify important barriers to childhood vaccinations, the SmartSHOTS team partnered with County Health Councils (CHCs)\u2014TDH-supported teams of teachers, doctors, parents, and other volunteers from each county across the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how capable you are if you don\u2019t understand the problem,\u201d Li explained. \u201cThese representatives understand the people from their community, so we started by first asking what their needs are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CHCs revealed that locating and reaching vaccine clinics is a major barrier, especially to families that move a lot, so SmartSHOTS includes a GPS-enabled tool to help caregivers locate nearby vaccine clinics and public transportation options.<\/p>\n

Caregivers\u2019 safety concerns and misinformation, like believing that homeschooled children do not need vaccinations, were another major factor identified by CHCs. The SmartSHOTS team responded by creating evidence-based animations about each CDC-recommended vaccine and the disease it protects against in both English and Spanish, the two most-spoken languages in Tennessee.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The app\u2019s centerpiece is a tool where caregivers can create unique profiles for each of their children and log the date of each vaccination. This feature tackles the single biggest hurdle to child immunizations in Tennessee: human memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur analysis indicated that understanding immunization schedules and keeping up with those deadlines is a challenge,\u201d Wyatt said. \u201cOur app helps parents know when immunizations are due and sends them reminders.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Award-Winning, Life-Saving App<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Li and three of his ISE students, Aliza Sharmin, Jose Tupayachi, and Xudong Wang, were responsible for coding the back end of SmartSHOTS and the database containing all its reference information.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot many people think it, but as industrial engineers, we\u2019re capable of coding as well,\u201d said Li, who holds a master\u2019s degree in computer science. \u201cThese are very good students and they\u2019re working very hard. We\u2019re all very happy that they are on this project, because it\u2019s a very good, real-world problem to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

That app\u2019s potential was recognized in 2024, when SmartSHOTS won<\/a> the Mobile\/Web App Competition at the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (ISSE) Annual Conference and Expo. With the beta test complete, the team is now seeking funding to roll out a public release on major smartphone app stores.<\/p>\n

Until then, Li\u2014an unofficial alpha and beta tester\u2014is continuing to monitor his own children\u2019s vaccines with the app.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that with this app helping parents keep track of their kids\u2019 personal health records, we\u2019ll see a reduction in the number of kids without immunizations,\u201d he said. \u201cI think SmartSHOTS will be good for the health of Tennesseans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact<\/h2>\n

Izzie Gall (egall4@utk.edu<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vaccines help the immune system to recognize and fight many types of diseases, from viral illnesses like COVID-19 to bacterial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":1206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,3],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-1205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-news","category-full-time-adjunct-faculty","tag-xueping-li"],"yoast_head":"\nLi\u2019s App Removes Vaccine Barriers for TN Families - Industrial and Systems Engineering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ISE Professor Xueping Li is applying industrial systems expertise to public healthcare with an app that tackles barriers to childhood vaccination.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/ise\/lis-app-removes-vaccine-barriers-for-tn-families\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Li\u2019s App Removes Vaccine Barriers for TN Families - 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