
Building skills and improving HIV care. How can you go wrong?
That’s precisely what seven quality improvement (QI) leaders from Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP)-funded organizations across the country are doing in 2024. Each was selected to take part in the 2024 Quality Fellowship Program, one of the many technical assistance and training efforts under the HRSA-funded Center for Quality Improvement and Innovation (CQII).
The Quality Fellows were nominated by CQII staff and coaches in March 2024 to participate in the fellowship program and developed QI ideas based on organizational needs on varied topics, like expediting health care coverage enrollment processes for eligible RWHAP recipients and improving processes for partnering with people with lived experience when planning and implementing HIV programming.
The Fellows Training Program
The multi-month Fellowship program includes these components:
- One-on-one coaching, including opportunities to troubleshoot with peers on QI project progress. Coaching is conducted virtually via Zoom, monthly.
- Networking sessions to support peers in promoting QI within their clinical quality management (CQM) teams. Monthly networking sessions began in April and will conclude in December 2024 at the end of the fellowship.
- Drafting of case studies to document previous and current QI projects, providing organizations and CQII with real-world examples of best practices and QI projects from which to learn. Case studies included a variety of improvement projects, including ways to measure and improve patient experiences when receiving HIV care by incorporating the voices of people with HIV.
Other QI projects focused on designing a training for organization leadership on Lean Six Sigma methods and tools (an advanced QI framework) and integrating a trauma-informed care approach into their HIV services. Fellows used a myriad of QI tools in their projects, including: PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycles, Driver/Fishbone Diagrams, SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendations), Root-Cause-Analysis, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis, and Value Stream Mapping.
Meet the Fellows
The fellows come from three U.S. regions – South (Tennessee), West Central (Texas), and (Southeast) Puerto Rico – with varying levels of experience in QI, ranging from intermediate to advanced. We look forward to sharing their contributions to QI in the months to come.
Centro Ararat, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Quality Improvement Project: Lean Leadership, Training Leadership on the Lean Process of QI

Wanda M. Curbelo Rodriguez
Clinical Quality Improvement Program Manager

Frances Marie Plaza-Rosario
Quality Improvement Program Coordinator

Justin Britanik
CQII Coach
Tarrant County HIV Administration, Fort Worth, Texas
Quality Improvement Project: Integrating a Trauma-Informed Approach to Care in Tarrant County

Kaitlin Lopez
Grant Coordinator, Quality and Planning

Kaitlyn Malec
Assistant Quality and Planning Coordinator

Rose Conner
CQII Coach
The Resource Group, Houston, Texas
Quality Improvement Project: Rebuilding Meaningful Engagement: Improving Systems and Processes for Partnering with Peers and People with Lived Experience in HIV Care

Reachelian T. Ellison
Meaningful Engagement Manager

Lori DeLorenzo
CQII Coach
Parkland Health, Dallas, Texas
Quality Improvement Project: Linking Justice-Involved Individuals to Care

Alexander Deets
Client Advocate

Susan Weigl
CQII Coach
Tennessee Department of Health
Quality Improvement Project: Expediting and Improving Enrollment Processes for Eligible RWHAP Recipients

Garett Switzer
Director of Quality Management and HIV Strategic Initiatives

Khalil Hassam
CQII Coach