Faculty & Staff

Ken is a Process Improvement Consultant for UC Health on the Anschutz Medical Campus. He has a dedicated passion for Operational Excellence, Continuous Improvement and Organizational Development that has been the backbone of a diverse career spanning healthcare, engineering, software, manufacturing and service delivery companies.  Ken is a graduate from Colorado State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Technology and has also earned a Black Belt in Six Sigma from the University of Colorado. With a strong belief in the need for honest, cross-functional collaboration to achieve success, Ken’s achievements have included individual, team, and organizational training; goal setting; facilitation; and mentoring at all levels of the corporate hierarchy.  Combined with a commitment to the power of Process and with a focus on solutions, purposeful change and operational excellence, Ken has driven major improvements in the Industrial Management, Data Storage, Defense, Aerospace and Healthcare industries.  This has resulted in the realization of significant financial savings and improvements in product and service quality, efficiency, on time delivery, time to market, and customer satisfaction.

​Tyler Anstett, DO is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine at the University of Colorado where he is the Assistant Director of Education in Systems Redesign and Quality Improvement. Through this role, and others, he has developed multiple curricula across all levels of medical education including students, residents, fellows, and faculty. His research interests include Quality Improvement and Health Systems Science education and Quality Improvement in the inpatient setting, particularly in the areas of efficiency and waste reduction. He spends his clinical time as a Hospitalist at the University of Colorado Hospital working on resident and non-teaching services. Originally from Colorado, Dr. Anstett completed all his education and training in the state: he received his DO degree from Rocky Vista University, completed his Internal Medicine residency and fellowship in Hospital Medicine with a focus on QI and Health Systems Leadership at the University of Colorado. He sits on several national committees including the Education Committee for the Society for Hospital Medicine and the Academic Hospitalist Commission for the Society for General Internal Medicine.

Lalit Bajaj currently serves as the Medical Director of Clinical Effectiveness at Children’s Hospital Colorado. In addition, he is a Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Dr. Bajaj has been an attending physician in the Children’s Colorado Emergency Department for 15 years. He received his MD from the University of California, San Francisco in conjunction with a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. He then completed a pediatric residency, chief residency, and pediatric emergency medicine fellowship at the University of Colorado/Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Bajaj has served as Research Director of the section of Emergency Medicine; as well as the Medical Director in the CHCO Research Institute. In addition, he has also served on many national leadership committees including the Steering Committee of PECARN (Pediatric Applied Care and Research Network), and the AAP Executive Committee of the Section of Emergency Medicine. Most recently, he has joined the Children’s Hospital Association steering committee for value based care.

David Brumbaugh is the Associate Chief Medical Officer at Children’s Hospital Colorado, where his primary focus in inpatient operations. He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Section of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition in the University of Colorado School of Medicine.  He was previously the Clinical Medical Director for the Digestive Health Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He received his MD degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and completed his pediatrics residency at Children’s Hospital Colorado, where he was also Chief Resident in Pediatrics. He was a general pediatrician for three years in the Yakima Valley, WA, before returning to Children’s Hospital Colorado for a fellowship in gastroenterology. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Amy Barton, Professor and Daniel and Janet Mordecai Endowed Chair in Rural Health Nursing, earned a BSN from the University of Toledo, an MSN from the Medical College of Ohio, and a PhD from the University of Florida.  As a national leader in nurse-led care, she provided the vision and strategic initiative to create Sheridan Health Services, a nurse-managed federally qualified community health center, serving low-income residents in an urban area southwest of Denver, Colorado. She was also instrumental in the development of i-LEAD, an online master’s option in nursing and healthcare systems leadership.

 Her publications focus on faculty practice, interprofessional education, patient outcomes, quality and safety, and informatics. She is Editor of the Journal of Nursing Education. She has successfully competed for over $8.5 million in grants to support research, practice, and education. Her work in national quality and safety initiatives include the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses initiative and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement/Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation initiative on “Retooling for Quality and Safety.” She was an invited participant in the 2018 Macy Conference on Clinical Learning Environments. Her most recent grants awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration concern the development of interprofessional teams to enhance patient outcomes and the integration of behavioral health services in primary care. Dr. Barton is a member of the 2005 cohort of the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellows. She is a Distinguished Practitioner in the National Academies of Practice and is a Fellow in the Western Academy of Nursing, the Academy of Nursing Education, and the American Academy of Nursing. She received the University of Colorado Denver Chancellor’s Recognition for Promoting and Supporting Diversity as well as alumni awards from the University of Toledo and the University of Florida.

 

Sarah Caffrey first became passionate about process improvement as a paramedic struggling to provide great patient care in a system that was not always supportive.  Her quest to learn more about how to improve business processes led her to attend a 4-day seminar with W. Edwards Deming.  Within the next few years Sarah went on to graduate from the Deming Scholars MBA Program at Fordham University where she earned formal education in Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge as well as experience improving processes at Boeing’s Rocketdyne Division, American Express and the General Electric Corporation.  After graduating she joined GE where she earned her Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification and progressed through roles of increasing responsibility, culminating in the role of Global Quality Leader for a small division of the company with operations in both the US and Amsterdam.  While at GE, Sarah identified and led quality improvement projects that produced over $53 million in combined savings for the company.  She also taught and mentored both LEAN and Six Sigma to employees, built a high performing international team from the ground up, and led improvement teams in a variety of areas including lease/loan originations, large scale IT implementations, distribution, and cash flow. After leaving GE in 2007, she successfully launched her own process improvement consulting business where she continued to hone her process improvement skills and help companies realize the full potential of their business processes.  After assisting a large national ambulance service achieve reductions in days sales outstanding resulting in $52 million in cash carrying cost savings, Sarah was engaged by Children’s Hospital Colorado to improve patient access with the Neurosciences Institute.  This led to the role of CHCO Quality and Process Improvement Director where she spent 3 years working with the hospital to improve processes.  Sarah is currently a Process Improvement Director for the UC Health System where she brings her 20 years of process improvement experience and education to assist this Top 10 hospital system realize their continuous improvement goals.

Ethan Cumbler is an Internal Medicine and Pediatric trained Hospitalist at the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH).  He is a pioneer in the study and practice of inter-professional team-based hospital quality improvement.  He created the Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) Service at UCH and is the Medical Director for UCH’s ACE unit.  This serves as a crucible for testing QI methods for reducing iatrogenic events such as falls or hospital acquired infections using teams of professionals across disciplines.  He spearheaded a series of initiatives reducing treatment time for stroke patients recognized by the American Stroke Association.  His QI programs for in-hospital stroke and hospital care for the elderly service serve as national models.  He heads the National Stroke Association’s In-hospital Stroke QI initiative and speaks nationally on how to improve systems of hospital care for stroke patients.  He also serves as faculty for the UCLA Leadership and Management in Geriatrics course and his invited lectures on improving care for the hospitalized elderly have been presented at the National American College of Physicians and Society of Hospital Medicine conferences. Within UCH, he chairs the Geriatric Hospital Leadership Committee and has served in many capacities for the Hospital Medicine Division over the years, including work on patient safety and medical error.  His educational approach to teaching patient safety is published by the Association of American Medical Colleges and has been utilized by academic medical centers around the world.  Ethan has been a recipient of awards at UCH for excellence in leadership, humanism, education, and quality improvement. He received the annual 2012 National Society of Hospital Medicine Award for Team-Based Quality Improvement for his work over 6 years improving response to in-hospital stroke.  Ethan seeks to bring a collaborative approach to system change such that physicians are partners with other disciplines, and the hospital, to create a culture which fosters continuous quality improvement.

Timothy Givens is the Vice Chair for Clinical Operations for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado. Prior to taking this position in September, 2017, he served as Section Chief of Pediatric Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care at Colorado for 8½ years, and the Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Children's Hospital Colorado. Before moving to Colorado, Tim held several administrative positions (Section Chief, ED Medical Director, PEM Fellowship Program Training Director) at a number of academic children's hospitals, including MUSC Children's Hospital in Charleston, SC; Monroe Carell, Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN; Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, KY; and The Children's Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham, AL. He received his MD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Jeff Glasheen is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD) where he is the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs—Quality and Safety Education, Chief Quality Officer at UCHealth, as well as University of Colorado Hospital. He was an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and completed his residency training, including a chief residency year, at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He previously served as Associate Program Director in the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program and has developed the residency’s Hospitalist Training Program, which has offered comprehensive hospitalist training to internal medicine residents since 2004.  In 2012 he was named the Director of the University of Colorado’s Institute for Healthcare Quality Safety and Efficiency (IHQSE). This pioneering program is charged with enhancing the quality and safety of the care provided at the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) and the Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO). Jeff is a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), and previously served on the Board of Directors and as past chair of the SHM Academic and Annual Meeting Committees. He is also the past chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) committee charged with overseeing the recognition of Focused Practice in Hospital Medicine (FPHM) board certification for hospitalists. He was the course director for the 2010 Academic Hospitalist Leadership Summit and is the director of the Academic Hospitalist Academy, an annual 4-day meeting aimed at developing early academic hospitalists’ career skills.

 

Emily Gottenborg is an Assistant Professor within the Hospital Medicine Group at the University of Colorado, with an interest in system redesign, patient safety, and leadership in the healthcare setting. She has received advanced training during a Chief Residency in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the University of California, San Francisco, as well as through Intermountain Healthcare's Advanced Training Program, and the Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety, and Efficiency. Dr. Gottenborg has served as the Director of the Medicine Ward Service at the University of Colorado since 2014, and has multiple educational roles within the University, teaching learners of all levels and across the health professions about principles of medical leadership, quality improvement, and patient centered care.

Peggy Jenkins PhD, RN has been a nursing leader for over 35 years serving in various staff nurse, administration, consulting, and academic roles. Currently, she serves as Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado College of Nursing (UCCON). She is Specialty Director for the iLEAD program, teaches graduate level leadership, and undergraduate Quality Improvement. Dr. Jenkins research interest is systems study to understand complex, multi-level relationships contributing to patient outcomes. She is board member of the National Nursing Value Research Data Warehouse and collaborates with colleagues internationally on nursing value research. She has presented her work nationally, internationally, and published in Journal of Nursing Administration and Nursing Economics. She graduated from St. Luke’s School of Professional Nursing, Cedar Rapids, IA with a diploma in nursing. She completed her BS, MS, and PhD at UCCON. Dr. Jenkins is a member of ANA, AONE, NLN, CGEAN, STTI, WIN and serves as Region 3 Coordinator for Sigma International, Board member and research committee chair Sigma local chapter, Graduate Curriculum Education committee member for UCCON.

David M. Keller, MD is Professor and Vice Chair for Clinical Strategy and Transformation in the Department of Pediatrics at the University Of Colorado School Of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO). He is responsible for leading initiatives to improve practice efficiency and effectiveness, as well as developing the capacity of the faculty to provide comprehensive high-value care to children in Colorado and throughout the Mountain West Region. On a state level, he serves as Co-Chair of the Health Impact on Lives Subcommittee of the Program Improvement Advisory Committee of the Colorado Accountable Care Collaborative; Co-Chair of the Health Information Technology Workgroup for the implementation of the Colorado State Innovation Model (SIM) Award; and serves on the Physician Advisory Board of Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC), Colorado’s all-payer claims database. On a national level, he serves on the Standing Committee on Pediatric Measures of the National Quality Forum and is the Chair of the Federation of Pediatric Organizations (FOPO). Prior to moving to Colorado, Dr. Keller spent 22 years on the faculty of the University Of Massachusetts School Of Medicine, where he practiced primary care pediatrics, initiated novel community-based programs with a variety of collaborators and served as an Associate Medical Director for Medicaid in Massachusetts. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow in the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the US Department of Health and Human Services from 2009-10.

If Patrick had a mantra, he might steal the words of artist Clyfford Still: “It’s intolerable to be stopped by the frame’s edge.” He revels in challenging long-held assumptions to facilitate the human(e) potential of individuals and teams. His work cultivating thriving healthcare environments is anchored in a simple, if not easy, principle: start with human relationships. Patrick is the Executive Medical Director for Patient and Provider Experience at UCHealth, where he has led the development of a system-level interdisciplinary experience team and strategic blueprint. He is a founding faculty member of the University of Colorado’s Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety, and Efficiency (IHQSE) where he has been instrumental in the creation of a groundbreaking healthcare leadership development program. After completing training in internal medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, Patrick completed a fellowship in Academic Hospital Medicine where he focused on the transformation of clinical delivery systems and the role of culture in improving patient safety. He is an experienced leadership coach, speaker, facilitator, system-designer and a zealous destroyer of all of those silos everyone always talks about. 

 

Andy Levy is currently an NIH-funded research fellow with an interest in healthcare delivery science. After completing both medical school and internal medicine residency training at the University of Chicago, he moved to Colorado to begin his Cardiology fellowship in 2015. He served as the Chief Fellow during the 2017-2018 academic year and participated in the American College of Cardiology's Teaching Tomorrow’s Teachers (3T) program. In addition to helping develop the Quality and Safety Academy, he helps facilitate Morbidity and Mortality conferences for the Department of Medicine and Division of Cardiology. Most recently, he is a 2018-2019 awardee of a Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety (CEPS) grant.

Dr. Lyon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine for the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Currently serving as the Associate Program Director for the University of Colorado Family Medicine Residency Program and an Associate Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs for the Department of Family Medicine. Previously he served as the Medical Director of AF Williams Family Medicine Center, which is the academic clinic for the University of Colorado residents and faculty. While medical director, Dr. Lyon lead multiple quality and process improvement projects which led to NCQA Medical Home certifications and a large clinic model transformation re-design. Within the family medicine residency, Dr. Lyon leads the Evidence-Based Decision Making, leadership, and quality improvement curriculum and guide residents and faculty through process improvement projects.

Corey also completed a University of North Carolina Faculty Development Fellowship in 2009, National Institute for Program Director Development in 2014 and the Institute of Quality, Health, Safety and Efficiency program in 2015.

Mary Beth Flynn Makic is a Professor at the University Of Colorado, College Of Nursing and Specialty Director for the Advanced Practice Nursing Program, Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist track.  She is also a Research Nurse Scientist at Denver Health.  Prior to that she was the Research Nurse Scientist for Critical Care at the University of Colorado Hospital and Clinical Nurse Specialist for Critical Care positions for 21years.  Her research focus explores the impact of nurse driven evidence-based practice initiatives.  She has been involved in several interprofessional research and quality improvement initiatives across the Anschutz Medical Campus.  Dr. Makic is the editor of several textbooks and editorial boards for journals.  Currently she is serving a three year term on the board of directors for the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.  She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and National Academies of Practice.

Lindsay McGuiness is a Nurse Manager for the Solid Organ Transplant Unit and Hepatology Unit at UCHealth. In her 11 year nursing career, Lindsay has gained significant experience and knowledge having worked with multiple disciplines across multiple units, which gives her unique insight to lead and affect change. Lindsay prioritizes building professional, working-relationships with all members of the healthcare team and uses creativity and passion to break down barriers. She loves nursing and strives to lead and manage by example and through building relationships. When Lindsay is not out building relationships with her 100+ employees, she enjoys her role as faculty for the organization’s Institute for Healthcare Quality, Safety & Efficiency where she provides a nursing voice and coaching for others on their journey of improvement work. 

Dr. Hemali Patel is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. She completed medical school, residency and chief residency at the University of South Florida followed by a fellowship in Academic Hospital Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco focusing on Quality Improvement. She is Assistant Director of Quality Improvement for the Division of Hospital Medicine and Physician Advisor for utilization and case management for the University of Colorado Hospital. Her main interests are in health systems re-design to improve efficiency and quality of clinical care and practice.

Kathy Shaw is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado College of Nursing. Her nursing specialty is community and population health with a particular interest in undeserved populations. She has practiced in a variety of settings including home health, diabetes self-management education, nonprofit clinics and older adult research. Dr. Shaw's teaching experience spans more than 15 years, including baccalaureate and graduate-level nursing education and staff education/development. She teaches primarily in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program and graduate level courses, and has been teaching quality improvement and guiding students and clinicians in QI projects since 2013.  She is also a Certified Diabetes Educator with a special interest in eliminating health disparities in diabetes self-management education and clinical care for adults.

Darlene B. Tad-y, MD joined the IHQSE faculty in 2014. As the Director for GME Quality and Safety Programs, Darlene has created GME-wide educational programs that integrate quality and safety initiatives into resident training. Her work with the Institute focuses on integrating residents and fellows into quality and safety initiatives with our clinical partners, and creating opportunities for learning in those activities. She has been instrumental in the development of educational programs around quality improvement and patient safety for the Department of Medicine and several residency programs.  Also, as the Associate Director for Education in the Hospital Medicine Division, she works closely with the program and service line directors to oversee the educational programs offered by the Division of Hospital Medicine. Darlene is a Fellow of the Society of Hospital Medicine and a member of the Academy of Medical Educators.

Jennifer Wiler is Vice Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine (SOM). She is a graduate of the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and completed a residency in Emergency Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA.  She is the former Assistant Medical Director at Hahnemann University Hospital and Assistant Clinical Service Chief and Medical Director of Observation Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.  She has served in numerous state and national leadership positions and is currently an Alternate of the American Medical Association RBRVS Updates Committee (RUC), Immediate Past-Chair of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) EM Practice Committee, Alternate Delegate to the AMA House of Delegates for Emergency Medicine, a former Chair of the American Medical Association's Women Physicians Congress, a member of the ACEP Quality and Performance and Reimbursement Committees, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Colorado Medical Society. She has been nationally recognized for her expertise in professional reimbursement, operations, quality, patient safety and health policy and has published widely on the topics.