The Advancing Equity through Quality and Safety Peer Network faculty is comprised of health care experts and leaders in the areas of quality and safety, population and community health, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Quality and safety
Karen Fiumara, PharmD, BCPS, CPPS
Karen Fiumara is the vice president of Patient Safety in the Department of Quality and Safety at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). She joined Brigham and Women’s Hospital in August 2002 and is responsible for the strategic planning and direction of the BWH Safety program. Prior to joining the Department of Quality and Safety, Karen worked as the Medication Safety Officer and managed the Anticoagulation Management Service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Esteban Gershanik, MD, MPH, MMSc, FAAP, FHM
Esteban Gershanik, MD, MPH, MMSc, FAAP, FHM, is an internal medicine and pediatrics hospitalist currently serving as medical director of quality, safety and equity for Brigham Health. His work focuses on data-driven understanding and targeted solutions in patient safety, quality, experience and access to care. He currently serves on committees addressing health equity for the American Medical Informatics Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and previous roles include as Partners Healthcare eCare Process Care and Redesign clinician and Louisiana Department of Health chief information officer and health informatics director.
Louis Hart III, MD
Louis H. Hart III, MD, is the inaugural medical director of health equity for Yale-New Haven Health System. He is a pediatric hospitalist and teaches medical students and residents as a clinical assistant professor of pediatrics as a faculty member of the Yale School of Medicine. Prior to joining Yale, as the director of Equity, Quality & Safety at NYC Health + Hospitals, he founded and led the medical eracism initiative that focuses on abolishing the use of race-based clinical tools and algorithms that further contribute to health inequities.
Nadia Huancahuari, MD
Nadia Huancahuari, MD, is a Brigham Health medical director of quality, safety and equity. She is currently an instructor of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a full-time attending physician in the emergency departments at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. She has designed, implemented and sustained numerous process improvement programs both within the emergency department and in collaboration with other departments at Brigham Health.
Regan Marsh, MD, MPH
Regan Marsh, MD, MPH, is an emergency physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a medical director of quality, safety and equity for the department of quality and safety. For more than a decade in Haiti, West Africa, Boston and throughout the U.S., she has worked to improve health equity by building patient- and community-centered systems in the public sector.
Andrew Resnick, MD, MBA
Andrew Resnick, MD, MBA, serves as the chief medical and quality officer for The Chartis Group and The Greeley Company. An expert in quality, patient safety and high reliability, Dr. Resnick helps organizations set and reach goals of top performance through both specific projects and transformational change. He has over 20 years of experience in health care, having served as chief medical officer and chief quality officer roles at leading health care systems throughout the United States. He is also a practicing general surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and part-time lecturer at Harvard Medical School.
Population and community health
Sara Bader, MCD, CPHQ—Director, training & education, HealthBegins
Sara Bader, MCD, CPHQ, is an experienced QI strategist and coach with a passion for helping organizations make health care more equitable and safe by understanding not only the why, but also the how. Sara has worked on quality initiatives for state hospital associations and a health system, coaching organizations to plan, assess, implement and evaluate interventions to promote safe and reliable care.
Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH—CEO, HealthBegins
Rishi Manchanda, MD, MPH is CEO at HealthBegins, a national mission-driven consulting and training firm. He has developed and scaled novel strategies to improve health equity and justice for historically marginalized communities throughout his career. He has served as director of social medicine for a network of community health centers in South-Central Los Angeles, as the lead primary care physician for homeless veterans at the Greater Los Angeles VA, and as chief medical officer for a self-insured employer with a large rural immigrant workforce.
Sadena Thevarajah, JD—Managing director, HealthBegins
Sadena Thevarajah, JD, has spent over 10 years at the intersection of health law, policy and stakeholder engagement. She led the first external affairs department at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, built business development for a tech start-up and shaped patient programs at the American Cancer Society. Previously, she served in the Obama Administration, both in the Office of the HHS Secretary as well as in the White House during the passage and early implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Donald Proby
Donald Proby is a peacebuilder, and a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging consultant. He served as director for the Office of Mediation, Coaching, Ombuds, and Support Services for Brigham Health, where he instituted this new department, grounding it in leading edge practices, ensuring its sustainability and ongoing success. Donald is currently engaged in dissertation work for the completion of a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at St. Mary’s College of California.
Normella Walker, MA
Normella Walker, MA, is the Brigham’s executive director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which supports the organization in increasing diversity at all levels, creating and sustaining a culture of respect and belonging, and identifying and eliminating inequities for patients and employees. She holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational performance and leadership and a master’s degree in psychology with a specialization in diversity management. She has also completed diversity coursework at the Cornell University School of International Labor Relations.
Advancing Equity through Quality and Safety Peer Network
For additional information on the AMA Peer Network, visit the Advancing Equity through Quality and Safety Peer Network page.
