Kara Lyven, MBA, CPPS, is the Executive Director for Patient Safety at Duke University Hospital. She provides oversight and operational leadership for the hospital’s patient safety program. She works collaboratively with hospital leadership to advance safety culture and the organization’s commitment to zero harm through evolving systems, processes, event analyses, and trainings. A key focus of her professional role is recognizing the interconnectedness of human error, system design, and safe choices in everyday clinical work. Kara joined Duke in 2016 as a Senior Patient Safety Associate and previously served as the Director of North Carolina Hospital Association’s (NCHA) Patient Safety Organization. She gained extensive experience as a Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Specialist for a 452-bed hospital in upstate NY and has served as a Regulatory Safety Associate at Pfizer in Manhattan. Kara holds a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience and an MBA in Pharmaceutical Studies. In addition to being a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS), she is a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer, is Green Belt trained and has served on multiple Patient & Family Advisory Committees as a strong patient advocate.

Melissa McClay, MPH, CPHRM, CPPS, is the Director of Patient Safety and Risk Management for MaineHealth Maine Medical Center (a multi-campus medical center with 929 licensed beds). She has worked in the field of patient safety since 1999, beginning as an Administrative Associate in the Quality Improvement and Risk Management Department at Boston Children’s Hospital. She advanced to a Patient Safety Specialist role, and helped coordinate the implementation of Patient Safety Leadership WalkRounds at that organization. After moving to Southern Maine, Melissa continued to gain experience as a Risk Manager and Patient Safety Director for a community hospital system, where she led initiatives to enhance the culture of safety through the use of Just Culture tools, the development of a patient safety orientation program for new leaders and providers, and organization wide TeamSTEPPS training. Melissa received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Vermont, and received a Master of Public Health degree from the Boston University School of Public Health. In addition to being a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) and a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS), Melissa has also received certifications in Lean Six Sigma and Project Management. She is a Patient Safety faculty member for the MaineHealth Hannaford Center for Safety, Innovation & Simulation, and has served as a Risk Management Mentor for the Northern New England Society for Healthcare Risk Management since 2022.

Jessica Behrhorst, MPH, CPPS, CPQH, CPHRM, is a Quality, Safety and HRO Consultant working in the areas of patient safety, workforce safety, and high reliability. She is faculty for the IHI Patient Safety Executive Development Program, Patient Safety and Quality for Emerging Leaders, and Redesigning Event Review with Root Cause Analysis and Action (RCA2). She previously served as the Senior Director at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). She has also served as the Assistant Vice President of Quality & Patient Safety at Ochsner Health System where she helped set the strategic priorities in quality and patient safety and she oversaw various projects involving patient safety, performance improvement, regulatory readiness, ambulatory nursing, infection control and quality outcomes. She has presented her work on (RCA2) and Improving the Culture of Safety at various regional and national meetings. She has also worked on research projects involving reduction in Sepsis mortality and access to healthcare for underserved populations. Jessica received her bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and her Master of Public Health Degree from the Louisiana State University School of Public Health. She is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS), a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM).

Katharine Luther, RN, MPM, Vice President (retired), Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), now serves as IHI Faculty. Ms. Luther was responsible for furthering IHI's work assisting health care leaders achieve bold aims and developing strategic partnerships that leverage innovation, pilot testing, implementation, and continuous learning across organizations. Previously, she served as Executive Director at IHI, designing new programs to impact cost and health care quality. When she retired, Ms. Luther also served as the Director of Quality at the UTHealth McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX. Ms. Luther has more than 30 years of experience in clinical and process improvement, large-scale change projects, program development, rapid-cycle change, developing and managing a portfolio of projects, and working with all levels of health care staff and leaders. Her clinical experience includes critical care, emergency room, trauma, and psychiatry. She has held quality and safety leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Memorial Hermann Hospital Texas Medical Center. She is certified in Lean and is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Lloyd P. Provost, Statistician and Senior Improvement Advisor at Associates in Process Improvement, helps individuals and organizations learn the science of improvement in order to improve their processes and systems. Mr. Provost's experience is in applications of statistical process control and in designing research and quality improvement studies. For the past 16 years, he has worked as an IHI Senior Fellow as an Improvement Advisor. He also serves on the IHI faculty for the Improvement Advisor Professional Development Program, provides Improvement Advisor support for IHI's developing countries programs, and coordinates the development and work of other Improvement Advisors that support IHI. He provides support for the QI curriculum for the IHI Open School. Mr. Provost co-authored the books Quality Improvement Through Planned Experimentation, The Improvement Guide, and The Health Care Data Guide.

Patricia Rutherford, MS, Vice President (retired), Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and IHI Faculty has expertise in developing and testing innovations and new models of care in patient- and family-centered care; hospital-wide patient flow (right care, right place, right time); Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB); and optimizing care coordination and transitions in care. She was Project Director for the Transforming Care at the Bedside initiative, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; served as Co-Investigator for the STate Action on Avoidable Rehospitalizations (STAAR) initiative, funded by the Commonwealth Fund; and was the Innovation and Content Lead for developing IHI's framework for Achieving Hospital-wide Patient Flow and related system-wide improvement efforts. Her skills include knowledge of process improvement, innovation, and idealized design; coaching clinicians, staff, and senior leaders in organizations on process improvement; and management of all aspects of large-scale performance improvement initiatives.

Frederick C. Ryckman, MD, Senior Vice President for Medical Operations (retired), Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, worked to implement the safest and most reliable health care for children. He directed Medical Operations from 2000–2017 and served as the interim Chief Operating Officer in 2015. In addition, as the Peri-Operative Service Director, he led the OR management team, infection prevention, and safety initiatives. The primary focus of his work is patient flow and capacity management throughout the Children's Hospital inpatient and outpatient environment. He is also Professor Emeritus of Surgery at the University of Cincinnati, specializing in Pediatric Multi-Organ Transplantation. He now resides on Sanibel Island, Florida.

Jane Taylor, EdD, Improvement Advisor and Learning Designer, supports learning collaboratives and innovation projects by providing expertise in improvement approaches and measurement. She has advised collaboratives for both adult and pediatric populations. She is interested in the integration of transformative learning, improvement science, and clinical improvement as well as engaging persons in their care. Ms. Taylor has an EdD from Columbia University, Teachers College in Adult Learning and Leadership. In her spare time, she plays the violin and is a competitive amateur ballroom dancer. She is a trusted friend and colleague to many; a sister, wife and aunt.

Lina Al-Sakran, PhD, is an embedded health services researcher and evaluation consultant at Vancouver Island Health Authority, specializing in the evaluation of quality improvement initiatives across the continuum of care. Leveraging a learning health system approach, she applies advanced analytics and clinical expertise to drive data-informed decision-making, supporting implementation and sustainment of quality improvement initiatives and optimizing health system performance. She holds a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan, where she focused on the epidemiology and pharmacoepidemiology of multiple sclerosis, including chronic disease surveillance and health services utilization. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia, leading evaluations of health policy interventions and knowledge translation strategies using large administrative health databases. In her current role, Dr. Al-Sakran leads the evaluation of multi-arm quality improvement projects aimed at enhancing care for vulnerable populations such as those with COPD, frailty, and end-of-life needs. She is principal investigator on patient-centered research initiatives and collaborates extensively with cross-disciplinary teams to translate complex data into actionable insights. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals and recognized nationally for its contributions to improving healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.

Eric Bates, MBA, BSN, RN, CENP, is the Senior Director of Patient Care at Northwell Health’s Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Eric has direct oversight of the operations, care delivery, finance, and quality outcomes for 151 inpatient beds in Critical Care, Stepdown, and Medical Telemetry as well as invasive and non-invasive cardiology procedural areas. In his 15 years of healthcare experience, he has held prior roles as an emergency department RN, critical care RN and other progressive leadership roles in Cardiology and Nursing Finance at Northwell’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY. Eric has led many successful quality improvement projects, throughput and patient flow initiatives, and innovative approaches to patient care. Eric is certified in executive nursing practice and holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Rhode Island College in Providence, RI and an MBA in Healthcare Management from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. Eric volunteers on the Education, Advocacy, and Outreach committee of Smile Train, the largest non-profit cleft focused agency in the world. He lives in New York City with his wife Carleigh, and two daughters Olivia and Chloe.

Maureen Bisognano, President Emerita and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), previously served as IHI’s President and CEO for five years, after serving as Executive Vice President and COO for 15 years. She is a prominent authority on improving health care systems, whose expertise has been recognized by her elected membership to the National Academy of Medicine (IOM), among other distinctions. Ms. Bisognano advises health care leaders around the world, is a frequent speaker on quality improvement at major health care conferences and is a tireless advocate for change. She is also an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Research Associate in the Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities. Additionally, she chairs the Advisory Board of the Well Being Trust, co-chairs the Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care with Dr. Atul Gawande, and serves on the boards of the Commonwealth Fund, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Indiana University Health and Nursing Now. Prior to joining IHI, she served as CEO of the Massachusetts Respiratory Hospital and Senior Vice President of The Juran Institute.

Donna Jouan-Tapp, MSN, is a nurse leader with almost 40 years of experience in acute care, community care and public health. She holds a master’s in nursing (focused on leadership and change management), project management and Lean certifications, executive leadership certificates, and has expertise in resource-demand optimization. She has been leading the translation of evidence into practice for the past 18 years, implementing new evidence-based services, leading quality improvement and resource-demand optimization to create high quality, cost effective and patient-centered care options for clients across the continuum of care. She currently works as the Director for the Cowichan Health and Care Plan on Vancouver Island, BC. In addition to daily operational responsibilities, she is leading a large-scale, evidence-based project designed to create acute care avoidance through targeted investment in community services. This strategic approach to overall patient flow, implemented over the past four years has proven to be effective, resulting in an optimal occupancy situation within the local hospital, while supporting clients to receive care in community and remain in their place of choice.

Vladimir G. Manuel, MD, MS, is a family medicine physician and Assistant Professor at UCLA Health, where he serves as a Senior Quality Officer. In this role, he leads systemwide initiatives to improve care delivery across inpatient and outpatient settings, with a focus on flow, equity, and quality. He designed and launched UCLA’s Immediate Care network, creating best practice models that align urgent, after-hours, and primary care services. Dr. Manuel partners with the UCLA Health Patient Flow Command Center to develop operational flow metrics and strategies that span UCLA’s quaternary, tertiary, and community hospitals. His work emphasizes the importance of integrating outpatient flow principles into traditionally inpatient-focused improvement efforts, designing metrics and tools that enable whole-system thinking. He also serves as an Investigator in the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), where he collaborates with community health partners, such as LACare and LAUSD, to apply improvement science and data-driven insights to population health challenges. Dr. Manuel holds an MD from the University of Pittsburgh and an MS in Technology and Policy from MIT. He brings an operationally grounded, clinically engaged approach to system improvement and flow redesign.

Karen Murrell, MD, MBA, Care Without Delay Director, Northwest Permanente Medical Group. In this multidisciplinary role, she works to expedite hospital and ED flow. Prior to this she was Chair of Emergency Medicine for The Permanente Medical Group in Northern California, was director of one of the top 20 busiest Emergency Departments in the country and was also head of hospital operations at South Sacramento. She has extensive experience in performance improvement, hospital and emergency department management and practice, with more than 40 years of experience in a variety of roles. Dr. Murrell has focused on innovative approaches to patient flow in both the emergency department and inpatient hospital, using Lean methodology to improve departmental flow that resulted in markedly decreased time to physician and length of stay. She is a frequent presenter on her work and co-author of several papers on flow. She also co-authored a book on Emergency Psychiatry.

James Rudy, Senior Director Operations, Integrated Operations, Northwell Health, joined Northwell Health in 2012 as an Industrial Engineering Throughput Project Manager at Long Island Jewish Medical Center (LIJMC). In that role he was responsible for utilizing industrial engineering techniques to streamline processes, improve patient flow, and maximize work force productivity. In 2013, he was promoted as the Director of Operational Excellence, and was responsible for establishing the Operational Excellence Department’s strategic plan and goals. Key initiatives at LIJMC have included implementing an award-winning emergency department split flow model, a learning system around patient flow and throughput, hospital star rating, and a daily management system for engaging staff in continuous improvement. In his current role, James is the Senior Director of Integrated Operations at Northwell Health. The teams strategic focus is on driving improvements to patient flow and capacity management by leveraging improvement science methodology, sharing and learning across system hospitals, and the implementation of technology solutions to support process change. Before coming to Northwell Health, James served as a process engineer, industrial engineer, and business operations professional in IBM’s Microelectronics Division. In those roles, he had various responsibilities, including product quality and yield, cycle time, lean manufacturing implementation, staffing and capacity planning, and cost reductions. James holds an MBA from Pace University and a bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Boston University.

Jennifer Santoro Shickler, MSN, RN, NE-BC, started her nursing career at St. Francis Hospital in 2004 working as a staff nurse on a telemetry unit where her innate leadership skills were apparent from the start. In 2007, Jennifer transferred to Long Island Jewish Medical Center as an Assistant Nurse Manager and her leadership trajectory has continued ever since. Over the years, Jennifer has held multiple leadership roles and is well-known throughout the organization as a highly effective leader. She brings innovative ideas and ability to collaborate with all members of the interdisciplinary team. Throughout her tenure at LIJMC, Jennifer has risen to each opportunity and challenge presented to her. During the COVID pandemic, Jennifer oversaw and orchestrated the unit moves to accommodate the fluctuating COVID population. She has been a mentor to many leaders in the building who see her as a resource and confidant. Jennifer currently is the Deputy Chief Nurse for the Northwell Cancer Institute. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Nursing Education from Molloy College and is a board-certified Nurse Executive. In addition to Jennifer’s many hats within LIJMC, she is also a mother to Kaitlin, Riley, and Charlotte, and a wife to David.

Gregory D. Snyder, MD, MBA, is Vice President, Clinical Strategy and Quality Improvement, Medically Home, a technology-enabled health care venture providing acute care to patients in their homes. He serves as entrepreneur-in-residence for the Massachusetts General Hospital Healthcare Transformation Lab and is affiliate faculty at Ariadne Labs. Greg is a staff physician at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and an assistant professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine.

Christine White, MD, MAT, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hospital Medicine and the Chief Capacity, Flow and Access Officer at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Dr. White has led efforts on patient safety, including initiatives to raise rates of medication reconciliation completion, to improve communication at night, and to improve discharge efficiency through standardization of discharge criteria. This last project, which significantly decreased length of stay without increasing readmission rates, earned the Children’s Hospital Association Pediatric Quality Award in 2013.

Denise L. White, PhD, is the Senior Director of Access, Flow, and Capacity at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In this role, she works with the sites of care to improve patient access, patient flow and capacity management throughout the hospital. Dr. White also partners with hospital staff and analytic experts to promote and publish research on the application of improvement methodologies, operations management, and data analytics. Previously, she served as Director of Quality and Transformation Analytics at the Anderson Center. She is also an Associate Professor – Educator at the University of Cincinnati, where she teaches courses in analytics and health care operations management.

Lauren Hayden, an Improvement Advisor at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), serves on IHI's Improvement Science and Methods Team supporting and teaching in Quality Improvement programs across a variety of settings and topic areas. Ms. Hayden first started practicing improvement science with IHI in Ghana as part of the Project Fives Alive! initiative, a seven-year project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with the goal to reduce mortality in children in Ghana under age five using quality improvement methods. After seeing the impact of improvement science in strengthening a health system and helping the daily lives of mothers and children, she grew inspired to teach and coach others to improve. Ms. Hayden serves as Director and faculty for IHI's Improvement Coach Professional Development Program and leads the curriculum development and teaching for IHI's internal staff improvement capability efforts

Auzewell "Auz" Chitewe, MSc, BSc Hons, is as a nurse and is an Improvement Advisor working as Programme Director of Improvement at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). One of His most treasured moment in Quality Improvement was when his team had the privilege of being awarded the 2022 Quality Team of the Year award at the fifth International Quality Awards (IQA).

In addition to his support of frontline improvement projects, Auz is experienced in developing and delivering system-wide work programs, collaboratives and learning systems. Some of his work has centered on system-wide improving access to services, joy in work, improving population health, tackling inequalities.

He has experience providing strategic and operational leadership in organisations looking to building a culture of continuous quality improvement that involves everyone. He is a recipient of the NHS Leadership Academy Award in Senior Healthcare Leadership and is a member of faculty for coaching and teaching on improvement science across professional, communities and organisational boundaries.

His leisure interests include shooting 360º photography and exploring virtual reality worlds.

Christina Southey, MSc, is an Improvement Advisor with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and independent consultant. She currently supports IHI’s Age-Friendly Health Systems action communities, spread initiative and international work and has been involved in the movement since 2020. Additionally, she has supported multiple projects in various care settings including those focused on equity, chronic disease, and maternal care. She especially enjoys initiatives that include fostering community collaboration in partnership with those with lived experience. Southey has taught quality improvement in small and large group education sessions in North America and internationally. She is a seasoned facilitator and trained in the Lewis method of Deep Democracy to support groups working through conflict. Christina holds a Masters in Community Health and Epidemiology and lives with her family in Toronto, Ontario Canada.

Kelly McCutcheon Adams, MSW, LICSW, is a Senior Director at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and has been with IHI since 2004. She is the Director (and co-faculty) of the IHI Breakthrough Series College and the Director of the IHI Chief Quality Officer Professional Development Program. Ms. McCutcheon Adams has led and coached many BTS Collaboratives and has taught in the United States, Denmark, UK, and Australia. She is a medical social worker with experience in hospice, nursing homes, sub-acute rehabilitation, emergency department, and ICU settings. Ms. McCutcheon Adams served as faculty for the Organ Donation Collaborative of the US Department of Health and Human Services and for the Gift of Life Institute.​​​

Sue Butts-Dion is a quality improvement consultant with over 20 years of management consulting experience in health care. She successfully supports clients, including hospital systems and physician practices, in planning and implementing improvement objectives. Ms. Butts-Dion's practice areas include improvement planning, training, and group facilitation.

Program Team

• Lauren Cameron, Program Manager, IHI