Program Staff
Danielle Lazar, MA
Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH
Director
Dr. Bruce Siegel is a Research Professor and Director of the Center for Health Care Quality in the Department of Health Policy at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. There he oversees the Aligning Forces for Quality initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Dr. Siegel also serves as the Director of RWJF program Urgent Matters. Much of his work has sought to understand and improve the quality of health care received by Americans, with a focus on its most vulnerable populations. His work has included developing innovation in reducing crowding and improving hospital patient flow, eliminating ethnic and racial disparities in care, and supporting the safety net. Dr. Siegel’s research projects have included work with the Commonwealth Fund, the California Endowment, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the District of Columbia and others on quality and equity.
Dr. Siegel has previously held the positions of New Jersey Commissioner of Health, President of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and President of Tampa General Healthcare. In addition, he served as a Director of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, as a Senior Fellow at New School University, and as an advisor to the Institute of Medicine, the World Bank, hospitals, hospital associations, philanthropies, county and state governments, and pharmaceutical firms. He is a member of the Board of Stewardship Trustees of Catholic Health Initiatives.
Dr. Siegel received his AB degree from Princeton University, MD from Cornell University Medical College, and MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. He is board certified in Preventive Medicine. He has written and spoken extensively on health care management, policy and public health issues.
Mark McClelland, DNP, RN
Quality Improvement Leader
Mark McClelland joined the Center for Health Care Quality at The George Washington University in the summer of 2008 and is the Quality Improvement Leader for the Urgent Matters Learning Network II. Mr. McClelland has over 30 years experience in healthcare in a variety of clinical and administrative settings. His clinical background includes the emergency department, home health, and hospice. He has also worked as a nurse recruiter, nursing supervisor, and hospital case manager. Most recently, Mr. McClelland has worked in hospital quality improvement at The George Washington University Hospital. Mr. McClelland received his BSN from Case Western Reserve University and his masters degree from the University of Washington. He is certified in case management and palliative care. He is currently studying for a doctorate in nursing practice at The George Washington University.
Vickie Sears, MS, RN, CCRN, CPHQ
Assistant Director for Quality Improvement
Ms. Sears is the Assistant Director for Quality Improvement for The George Washington University Center for Health Care Quality and a Lead Research Scientist at The George Washington University Medical Center School of Public Health and Health Services. Ms. Sears oversees the execution of several national QI collaborative initiatives focused on patient flow, cardiac care improvement, optimizing language services and reducing health care disparities. She also served as the Quality Improvement Leader for the Robert Wood Johnson national disparities collaborative called Expecting Success: Excellence in Cardiac Care. She has over 35 years experience in clinical nursing, quality improvement and management in both the acute care and ambulatory settings. Her experience includes clinical pathway and practice standards development, data collection and analysis, medical staff services oversight and peer review, physician billing and coding and ambulatory physician practice management. Ms. Sears has worked as a clinical nurse specialist in both critical care and medical-surgical units. She received her diploma in nursing from Henry Ford Hospital School of Nursing and her BSN and Masters of Science, Nursing with a clinical specialist trauma and critical care focus from the University of Maryland.
Karen C. Jones, MS
Senior Research Scientist
Senior Research Scientist
Karen Jones is a Senior Research Scientist with The George Washington University Biostatistics Center Medical Center Unit and the Center for Health Care Quality and also has an appointment as adjunct instructor in the Department of Health Policy. She provides statistical expertise and data analysis for a variety of research projects at the University. Among others, these have included studies examining the impact of the State Children's Health Insurance Program on Community Health Centers and Maternal Health Programs, evaluating anti-smoking and anti-violence interventions in school settings, analyzing and comparing hospital quality data, maintaining databases and analysis programs for a longitudinal study of yoked adoptive and birth families, and providing databases and reports for pre-clinical trials. Her previous experience includes application of both parametric and nonparametric statistical techniques to environmental, market, and health research data.
She has used SAS extensively for data management as well as statistical analysis and is experienced in working with large complex datasets. Ms. Jones holds a Master of Applied Statistics degree from Louisiana State University and BA degrees in Psychology and Latin American Studies from Tulane University. She has completed additional graduate course work in multivariate statistics, sampling theory and applied sampling from the University of Maryland College Park and The George Washington University
Research Associate
Danielle Lazar is a Research Associate for the Urgent Matters Learning Network II. Before joining the program, she was a Program Associate at the Association of Academic Health Centers. Ms. Lazar has research experience in Medicare variability, clinical trials organization and management, and emergency preparedness. Ms. Lazar earned her BA in History and Political Science from the University of Rhode Island and her MA in Political Science with a focus on international relations from Villanova University.
Evan M. Williamson
Senior Research Assistant
Evan Williamson is the Senior Research Assistant for the Urgent Matters Learning Network II. He is also a Registered EMT with certifications from the Brain Trauma Foundation and Pediatric Education for Prehospital Providers. Mr. Williamson earned his BA in Pre-Professional Studies and Music Theory from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a MPH candidate in Health Policy at The George Washington University.
M. Cody Simpson
Research Assistant
Cody Simpson is the Research Assistant for the Urgent Matters Learning Network II. She brings to the project two years of clinical experience as a surgical assistant at a Level-I trauma center. Ms. Simpson earned her BA in Political Science from The University of Tennessee at Knoxville and is currently an MPH candidate in Health Policy at The George Washington University.
