David Mendez

David Mendez is an Associate Professor of Technology and Operations at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. His research focuses on public health policy, substance use disorders, and tobacco control, with a particular emphasis on modeling smoking cessation trends, e-cigarette impacts, and policy interventions. He employs systems science and machine learning approaches to analyze population-level health behaviors and policy effectiveness.

Key research interests include:

• Quantifying smoking-related mortality and policy impacts
• Adolescent substance use trajectories and e-cigarette effects
• Systems dynamics modeling of public health challenges
• Evaluating tobacco product regulations and harm reduction strategies

His recent work examines the bidirectional relationship between e-cigarette and cannabis use among youth, the long-term consequences of menthol cigarette use in marginalized populations, and the application of Kalman filters to track smoking cessation dynamics. Dr. Mendez collaborates with policymakers to translate research findings into actionable public health strategies.

Teaching includes Spreadsheet Modeling and Applications, emphasizing data-driven decision making in business contexts.