“From a personal standpoint, I believe April is a change agent and difference maker because she leads by example. She took the lead on the Best for All QI project and has deliberately managed workflows for implementing the PREM survey to improve overall patient experience and provide staff and leadership with opportunities to achieve positive organizational goals for effective and respectful patient care.”

“Lillian is responsible for all QI data at Ascension. But Lillian is more that someone who pulls data, she is an active team member and advocate for QI. She has participated in all TIPQC projects at Ascension including Hypertension, Preventing C/S and COCC… Without Lillian, Ascension would not be able to participate at the level of excellence that she provides. Her advocacy and continued support is invaluable”

“Rebecca’s thorough chart review allows us to identify trends early and implement timely, data-driven interventions. Her work promotes nursing and physician accountability, which improves documentation accuracy, and strengthens compliance with evidence-based standards. She collaborates with nursing and physician leadership to address opportunities for improvement and track progress over time.Her dedication directly contributes to improved maternal safety and better patient outcomes.”

“Elizabeth has been essential to our success with the NEC project. At times when it would have been easy to give up, she pushed for systematic change that allowed EMR updates that ensured our Oral Immune Therapy implementation was successful. This tooks months and there were many, many hurdles.

Elizabeth has also been the go-between for our various project contributors: nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians, pharmacists, physical therapists, speech therapists, dieticians, unit coordinators, administrators, and tech support. To achieve complex goals, she organized multidisciplinary meetings, beyond our monthly huddles, to improve quality for our babies and our NICU.

This dedication to quality extends beyond this project and can be seen in every aspect of her work and career. Be it at bedside or through her research/quality commitments, Elizabeth improves our NICU on a daily basis.”

“Sarah has been a project lead in several QI initiatives.  Her initiatives include Best for All, Respectful Maternity Care, Reducing NTSV CS rates, Promoting a Breastfeeding Culture, RN MD Communication, Vanderbilt Intensive Care for Antepartum, Delivery, and After.  She is also a key player in other projects such as OB procedural team, OB remote blood refrigerator, The Celebration of Motherhood, ED OB workflows, and OB triage workflow improvement.”

“Megan has demonstrated exceptional leadership in quality improvement by mentoring trainees and guiding meaningful projects focused on improving women’s health outcomes at UTMC. She has taken the time to thoughtfully teach foundational and advanced QI principles, empowering learners to translate passion into actionable system-level change. Her mentorship extends into research development, where she provides detailed guidance, constructive feedback, and consistent support. She models professionalism, organization, and accountability in every aspect of her work…. She created a supportive environment in which I felt encouraged to ask questions, take initiative, and grow as a future physician. Her investment in my development reflects the same care and advocacy she brings to improving outcomes for women and mothers.”

“Shannon has been dedicated to improving maternal health outcomes in TN since she came to us 3 years ago.  In the hospital she has focused on best practices and patient experience.  Shannon has brought initiatives such as Best for All, Maternal Fetal Triage Index, Stork Entrance, Better nutrition for our mothers, Naloxone project, eating in labor, doula engagement, Respectful Care, and more to our hospital.  She has also been a key player in changing to best practices such as HTN management in obstetrics, doulas in labor, mobility in labor, and collaboration with our ICUs. …Shannon not only has made a huge impact on our hospital, but she is also making an impact throughout TN. Shannon is currently working with the doulas of TN to get legislative actions for the doula community.”

“Jessica guides evidence‑based maternal care by providing high‑quality performance data that highlights gaps and opportunities. Her analytics support the implementation of AIM bundles, standardized hypertension pathways, and hemorrhage readiness protocols, ensuring these practices are adopted with fidelity and evaluated for impact.”

“Dr. Homsi has been one of the leaders of quality improvement efforts in our system for years …Through Dr. Homsi’s work and efforts, we have seen great strides in quality improvement successes.  He was a leader of the Hypertension and PVD projects.  He played a key role in establishing our massive transfusion protocol.  He led the OB efforts for Optimal Cord Clamping and is now taking on AFE and Hemorrhage improvement efforts.”

“Dr. Tate is an inspiring leader and champion for maternal health. She is innovative and an expert in her field, always able to contribute new ideas and approaches to improving care and outcomes. She is a compassionate and hard-working physician and colleague. And an effective and engaging educator.”

“Both outcomes data and qualitative patient surveys and community engagement studios have shown that Firefly patients receive comprehensive, wholistic, and non-stigmatized care under Dr. Young’s direction. Many have stated that they wouldn’t be alive today – or have possession of their children, if it wasn’t for the program. Dr. Young also teaches, mentors, and speaks publicly about the work, impacting students, colleagues, and beyond.”

“Under Dr. Arrindell’s leadership, infant quality improvement efforts have been consistently successful with several projects accomplishing or exceeding TIPQC state goals.  We have seen expansion of evidence based best practices and improved outcomes for the infants of our community.  Dr. Arrindell leads with the utmost poise and professionalism.  He has a passion for quality improvement work that is undeniable.”

“Carianna’s leadership has strengthened early intervention and continuity of care for infants at highest risk for poor health outcomes. Her dual role as director and direct-care nurse builds trust with families while reinforcing best practices among nursing staff. Through trauma-informed, relationship-based care, she has helped improve caregiver confidence, infant safety, and adherence to medical follow-up. Her career-long dedication to vulnerable populations reflects a sustained commitment to championing infant health locally and globally.”

“Dr. Puhr has served as a valuable resource for the Niswonger Children’s Hospital Best for All project team, helping to integrate the patient-family partner perspective and improve the experience of care for families affected by substance use disorder…Her work inspires dozens of multidisciplinary trainees each year, ensuring the workforce is well-equipped to care for future generations of infants and families. Baby Steps is recognized as a Promising Practice for integrated and recovery-friendly medical homes by the American Academy of Pediatrics and received the TN Walk of Fame Award for Quality in Care from Blue Care.”

“Kim has been a pioneer in getting our infants using bellybands….As a result, it has reduced the amount of KUB images obtained and noxious stimuli related to frequent lab draws as part of NEC work up for abdominal distension.”

“Casie completed Vanderbilt’s Quality Academy and uses strong QI methodology and data driven interventions to facilitate change in the NICU. She facilitated change via multiple PDSA cycles during her positioning project and LISA project. …Prior to her work with implementation of LISA in our unit, infants received surfactant by the INSURE method (in and out surfactant) or surfactant with continued ventilation.  Casie’s work provided an evidence-based method to provide surfactant which has been shown as preventative for BPD. Now, nearly all eligible babies receive surfactant via the LISA method.  Our unplanned extubation rates have significantly decreased in our older, chronically intubated patients after implementation of developmental care huddles using the risk stratification tool Casie developed for unplanned extubations.”