Henry Ford Health System serves as the Coordinating Center and is responsible for collecting and analyzing comprehensive clinical data from the participating hospitals. It uses these analyses to examine practice patterns, to generate new knowledge linking processes of care to outcomes, and to identify best practices and opportunities to improve quality and efficiency. The center further supports participants in establishing quality improvement goals and assists them in implementing best practices.
Muwaffak Abdulhak, MD, FRCS(C)
Director
Dr. Abdulhak joined Henry Ford Hospital in July 2001 as Director of the Neurosurgery Spine Program. He was board certified in internal medicine before training in Neurosurgery. After completing his neurosurgery training at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada. In addition, he completed a complex spine fellowship program at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Abdulhak is certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He leads the Spine and Neuro trauma program at Henry Ford Hospital; a multi-disciplinary effort with a strong collaboration with the orthopedic department. Dr. Abdulhak has very extensive experience focusing on minimally invasive approach as well as complex and reconstructive/deformity correction spine surgery for degenerative, traumatic, as well as metastatic spine disease.
David R Nerenz, PhD.
Associate Director – Registry, Patient Reported Outcomes
Dr. Nerenz served as Director of what is now known as the HFHS Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research from 1987 – 1999 and then again from 2005 – 2018, when he stepped down as Director and now holds the title of Director Emeritus. He has served as Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Neurosurgery and as Director of Outcomes Research for the Neuroscience Institute at Henry Ford. His own research has been in the area of health system performance measurement and elimination of racial/ethnic disparities in quality of care. From 2012 to 2018, Dr. Nerenz served on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) as one of 17 Commissioners. MedPAC is a policy-setting body that advises Congress on a variety of payment issues in the context of the Medicare program. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the National Quality Forum’s Scientific Methods Panel, as Co-Chair of the CMS Impact Assessment Technical Expert Panel, as a member of the CMS Hospital Star Rating Technical Expert Panel, and as a member of the NQF Disparities Standing Committee. Dr. Nerenz received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979.
Jason Schwalb, MD, FAANS, FACS
Co-Director
Chair, Publications Committee
Jason M. Schwalb, MD is the Surgical Director of the Movement Disorder and Comprehensive Epilepsy Centers at Henry Ford Health System and Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at Wayne State University. He also holds an appointment as a Research Scientist in the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research at Henry Ford.
Dr. Schwalb obtained his BA in Classical Greek summa cum laude from CUNY Brooklyn College. He obtained his MD from Yale University. He completed his surgical internship at Johns Hopkins University and his neurosurgical residency at the University of Pennsylvania with an infolded fellowship in spine surgery. He then completed a fellowship in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto, during which time he also obtained additional training in epilepsy and peripheral nerve surgery.
He has served as the President of the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Pain and Section Editor for Pain for Neurosurgery. He is the current Vice President of the Michigan Association of Neurological Surgeons. He is a member of the AMA Pain Care Task Force and the National Quality Council for the AANS and CNS and serves on the Coding and Reimbursement Committee of the AANS and CNS.
Victor W Chang, MD, FAANS
Co-Director
Dr. Chang is currently the Co-Director of Minimally Invasive and Deformity Spine Surgery within the Department of Neurosurgery within Henry Ford Hospital, and is a Clinical Associate Professor with the Wayne State University School of Medicine. His practice is primarily out of Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital currently. He received a B.A.S. at Stanford University and his MD from the University of Michigan. He completed both his surgical internship and neurosurgical residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. From there, Dr. Chang also completed a Spine Fellowship at the University of California Los Angeles and rejoined the faculty at Henry Ford in 2014. He is an active member of the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorder of Spine and Peripheral Nerve as well as the Society of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.
Jamie Myers, BSN, RN
Program Manager
Jamie joined Henry Ford in December of 2017. She comes to us with a strong clinical background in ICU nursing and patient safety & quality. Jamie comes to us from Beaumont Health System Grosse Pointe where she was a nurse clinician in the external quality department. Jamie was instrumental in MSSIC project development and the implementation of successful MSSIC QI initiatives at Beaumont Grosse Pointe. In addition to her quality work Jamie was an active member of the Professional Nurse Council, Daisy Award Chairman and Bwell Wellness Ambassador. Prior to her transition into quality Jamie was a Clinical Nurse II, charge nurse and preceptor in the medical ICU for over 20 years. Her ICU career took her to William Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak, Detroit Receiving Hospital and The Regional Medical Center in Memphis, TN where she also trained in ER and trauma nursing. Jamie graduated from Northern Michigan University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Kari Jarabek, BSN, RN
Sr. MSSIC QI Lead
Kari has been a Registered Nurse for 30+ years and has been with the Michigan Spine Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MSSIC) since 2015. Most of her career has encompassed patient safety, Quality Improvement (QI), program development, management, and regulatory agency compliance. She has worked with various BCBSM Pay-for-Performance Programs with special attention to the Collaborative Quality Initiatives (CQIs). As the Senior QI Lead, she works with the MSSIC Directors and Executive Committee to coordinate the design and implementation of state-wide, quality initiatives at all MSSIC sites. This directly impacts process improvement, standardization, the improvement of patient outcomes, and the reduction of adverse events for spine surgery patients. She acts as a consultant on QI issues and coaches and mentors all MSSIC sites in the utilization of change management tools to support effective decision making and assure successful and sustainable implementation of QI initiatives. Kari is Lean Healthcare certified through the University of Michigan and prides herself in taking difficult concepts and transforming them into practical methods that can be implemented on the front lines of patient care. Her advice for successful QI: “Go to the people who do the work, where they work, and show them respect – they are the experts. They know what is happening, why it is happening, and have insight as to which interventions will be most successful.” Kari graduated from Saginaw Valley State University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Allison Jauss, MSN, RN, CIC
MSSIC QI Lead
Allison joined the Henry Ford team in 2021. She has extensive experience in quality improvement, regulatory compliance, infection control, patient safety, and risk management. Allison was most recently employed at Select Medical as a Director of Quality Management. Prior to that she had worked for Covenant HealthCare in a variety of roles including Quality Improvement Specialist, Medical-Surgical Educational Specialist, and Cardiovascular registered nurse.
Allison obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Michigan Flint in 2008. She obtained her Master of Science in Nursing from Saginaw Valley State University in 2013 with a dual major in Nursing Administration and Nursing Education. In 2019, Allison became Certified in Infection Control through the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Nicole Schaub
CQI Program Coordinator
Nicole joined the Henry Ford team in 2022. She brings with her a background in quality improvement, risk management, program management, group facilitation, and health education. She comes to us from a Federally Qualified Health Center where she acted as the Quality Director. Prior to that, Nicole worked extensively with different public health departments in Saginaw County and throughout Northern Michigan as a project coordinator. Nicole obtained her Master of Public Health from University of Michigan and earned her Bachelor of Science from Michigan State University in Anthropology with a specialization in bio-ethics.
Karalyn O'Connor, RN, BSN, CNOR
Education and Auditing Specialist
Karalyn is a new addition to the Henry Ford team as of November 2019. She brings with her a strong clinical background in surgical nursing and patient quality and safety. She comes to us from Beaumont – Farmington Hills where she was a Nurse Educator for Surgical Services. Prior to that, she spent over three years in quality where she was responsible for the development and implementation of MSSIC at Beaumont Troy. Karalyn is certified as a perioperative nurse (CNOR) and is an active member in the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses. Prior to her transition into quality, Karalyn was a surgical nurse for Beaumont Health System – Royal Oak and the Detroit Medical Center Harper Hospital for six years. Karalyn graduated from Michigan State University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies of Social Sciences, and the University of Detroit Mercy where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Cheryl Beamgard, BSN, RN, MS
Education and Auditing Specialist
Cheryl has been with Henry Ford Health System since 1977, holding multiple staff nurse, management, educator, and information systems positions at Henry Ford Hospital, Henry Ford Medical Group and Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital. She joined MSSIC in March 2015 as an abstractor at West Bloomfield Hospital. Cheryl has a Masters Degree from the University of Detroit and earned her BSN from the University of Kansas.
Sharon Jones, AAS
Sr. Registry Data Analyst
Sharon has been with MSSIC since 2013 and with the Henry Ford Health System since 2004, with a background which includes database creation, data collection processes, data analysis and reporting for research projects as well as quality improvement projects. Sharon earned her Associates of Applied Science in Computer Information Systems from Wayne County Community College, specializing in database administration. She manages the workflow for MSSIC and all aspects of data collection/reporting for MSSIC.
Jason Violette, BS, BBA
Registry Data Analyst
Jason is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biomedical Sciences together with former experience in laboratory quality control in the pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical research industries. He brings to MSSIC 9 years’ experience as a Solutions Manager and Solutions Specialist for Verizon Wireless, coaching and developing their sales team. He also recently acquired a second Bachelor of Business Administration Degree majoring in Business Analytics and completed a Quicken Loans Data Engineer Internship.
Kathy Winn, AAS
Registry Data Analyst
Kathy joined MSSIC in 2021 and comes from IHA as Business Intelligence Integration Developer. She was responsible for helping design databases and building reports for various business teams. Prior to that she was a SQL Developer for BCBSM. Kathy earned an Associate’s degree from Schoolcraft College in Computer Programming in 2000.
Shrywee (Shar) Hardy
Administrative Secretary
Shrywee joined Henry Ford Health System in July of 2018. She has worked in multiple departments where she has learned many aspects of Henry Ford Health System. Shrywee brings to MSSIC her knowledge and expertise of managing business office functions as well as optimizing productivity, providing service and quality. She also brings executive level support for staff and clients.
Lonni Schultz, PhD
Senior Biostatistician
Jianhui Hu, PhD
Statistician
Dr. Hu joined the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research at Henry Ford Health System as a Research Associate in 2012. She has been providing analytical and research support for a variety of internally and externally funded projects. Her areas of expertise include risk factors of health care outcomes, social and economic determinants of health and health care disparities, economic evaluation of health care programs, interventions, and policies. Her recent work focuses on using publicly available national data and HFHS data to examine how patient-, provider-, and community-level characteristics affect patient outcomes as well as hospitals’ performance on quality measures. Prior to joining HFHS, she worked as an assistant policy researcher at the RAND Corporation with an interest in health care policy, research methods, and comparative effectiveness of medical interventions. Dr. Hu received her Ph.D. in Policy Analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School, a multidisciplinary program comprising training in statistics, economics, social and behavioral sciences, and policy analysis.
Kylie Springer, MS
Biostatistician
Kylie initially joined Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in the summer of 2019 as an intern with the Department of Public Health Sciences while working on her master’s degree. In 2020, Kylie returned to HFHS full-time as a Biostatistician working with the biostatistics consulting team. One of the projects she is assigned to is assisting the MSSIC Coordinating Center as a Statistician. She brings to MSSIC 7 ½ years of vast experience working in the medical field as a Nursing Assistant at Beaumont Health Royal Oak, as well as 2 years of statistical consulting experience. Kylie graduated from Grand Valley State University where she earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Statistics with a minor in Biology and Master of Science in Biostatistics.