On Saturday, August 13, 2016, the UAB School of Health Professions’ Healthcare Quality and Safety programs made history when the inaugural Master of Science class graduated during UAB’s Summer Commencement.

The MSHQS program, established in 2015, is offered 100 percent online and designed for administrative and clinical professionals who are dedicated to learning quality improvement science and thereby improving themselves and their work environment.

“The importance of expertise in the realm of quality improvement and patient safety cannot be overstated. As our industry increasingly drives towards greater attention to quality and safety outcomes to optimize patient experiences, organizations will need to develop mastery in process improvement," said Deirdre McCaughey, Ph.D., who has been program director of the Healthcare Quality and Safety programs since June 2015. “Our Master’s degree program teaches students the foundations of improvement science and the capacity to apply their newly-developed skills in a quality improvement capstone project that benefits their home organization.”

Deborah Grimes with Deirdre McCaughey“Capstone projects are awesome because it provides real synergy to combine, the student’s professional workplace opportunities with the educational efforts in a manner that provide positive outcomes and patient safety improvement,“ said Deboarah Grimes, member of the graduating class and alumna of the HQS Graduate Certificate program. Grimes also had the honor of being the Graduate School commencement speaker at UAB's first Summer Commencement.

The inaugural graduates of the MSHQS program are:

• John Dodd – Program Manager, UAB Medicine
• Deborah Grimes, RN, JD, CHC, CPHQ – Associate Vice President Quality / Chief Compliance Officer, UAB Hospital
• Ashlea Herrero – Lean Analyst, UAB Medicine
• Fameka Leonard, MSN – Administrative Director of Quality & Patient Safety, UAB Hospital
• Carol Madden – Director, Medication Service
• Jennifer Mikalajunas, MSN, CBN, QIC,LSSGB – RN, Quality Improvement
• Eugena White, JD – Compliance Officer for UAB & Adjunct Instructor for National American University
• Anisa Xhaja, MHA – Manager, Quality Improvement, UAB Medicine

In addition to offering a Master of Science, the HQS programs include a Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Quality and Safety. The HQS certificate program, currently the #1 graduate certificate delivered at UAB, is also offered totally online and can be earned in only four classes. Certificate students accepted into the HQS Master’s program can apply their course credits toward graduation.