Quality Improvement Leadership

Osagie Ebekozien, MD, MPH, CPHQ, is the Chief Medical Officer at the T1D Exchange. In this role, he directs the diabetes learning health network of over 60 U.S endocrinology centers. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center where he teaches graduate level population health and quality improvement courses. Dr. Ebekozien’s research is focused on diabetes health equity, quality improvement, and population health science to improve real world outcomes. He has received numerous awards for his work, including most the 2021 ISPAD International Innovation Award for pediatric diabetes care and the 2022 Leonard Award for Diabetes Research. He is a frequent keynote speaker at major conferences, his work has been featured by multiple media networks, and he has authored several peer-review publications.

Nicole Rioles, MA, serves as Senior Director of Clinical Partnerships and Engagement. In this position, she plays a key role in cultivating and managing relationships with our T1D Exchange Quality Improvement Collaborative (T1DX-QI) center partners. She also facilitates the T1DX-QI Diabetes Distress Working Group and the People With Diabetes (PWD) Advisory Committee to help bring the perspective of PWD to healthcare design and decision making. Ms. Rioles’s areas of academic and research interest are in building multi-disciplinary learning health systems, translating research into clinical practice, and improving care delivery to PWD through quality improvement methodologies. She brings over a decade of public health experience, helping to improve health outcomes for populations in need. 

Carla Demeterco-Berggren, MD, PhD, is a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. She works as a pediatric endocrinologist at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego where she serves as the Director of Quality for the Diabetes Clinic. She trained as a pediatrician and as a pediatric endocrinologist in both Brazil (Federal University of Parana) and in the US (University of California, San Diego) where she completed her Post Doctoral research in type 1 diabetes. She has a broad background in both basic research in the field of developmental therapeutics for diabetes mellitus, improvement science and in clinical pediatric endocrinology and diabetes. As a clinician and a scientist, her primary interest is improving diabetes care delivery and access for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Francesco Vendrame, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Medicine, in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, at the University of Miami. He has interest in type 1 diabetes in the areas of quality improvement, the development of new immunotherapies and autoimmunity recurrence in pancreas transplantation. He is a well published author, and his research has been funded by the NIH. He joined the T1DX-QI in 2020 and received the 2022 T1DX-QI Outstanding Adult PI Award.

David Hansen, MD, MPH, is a pediatric endocrinologist at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. His favorite part of practice is seeing patients, participating in diabetes clinical research and working with quality improvement. He enjoys spending time with his wife, two daughters and two sons in the outdoors and playing games as well as watching his children participate in their extracurricular activities. Other interests include book club discussions, technology and participating with his church community.

Georgia Davis, MD, is an Assistant Professor, Endocrinology, Metabolism and Lipids, Grady Memorial Hospital.

Ryan McDonough, DO, FAAP, received his undergraduate degree from Creighton University in 2006, and his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from Des Moines University in 2010.  Following medical school, he completed a General Pediatric Residency and Pediatric Endocrinology & Diabetes Fellowship at Children’s Mercy – Kansas City.  He joined the faculty in the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at Children’s Mercy in 2016. He serves at the Co-Medical Director of the Children’s Mercy Diabetes Center and as the Chief Medical Informatics Officer & Senior Medical Director for Health Informatics.  He is triple board certified in General Pediatrics, Pediatric Endocrinology/Diabetes, and Clinical Informatics

Nirali Shah, MD, MS,  is an Associate Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. She serves as the medical director for the Adult Endocrine Practices at Mount Sinai Hospital overseeing clinical operations. She is the co-champion for Endocrinology in the Department of Medicine QI Committee and has been a co-investigator in multiple clinical trials evaluating the latest diabetes technology. 

Ashley Butler, PhD is a fellowship trained Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Section of Psychology at Baylor College of Medicine/ Texas Children’s Hospital. She is a behavioral scientist with expertise in community-engaged research methods, health disparities research methods, and the development and evaluation of behavioral interventions to improve health and psychosocial outcomes in pediatric diabetes. Her research has been funded by the NIH National Institute on Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIDDK), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and several foundations.

Selorm Dei-Tutu, MD, MPH, is an assistant professor at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine. On of her main goals is to provide comprehensive and compassionate care to children with diabetes on a personal and population scale by leveraging quality improvement and clinical skills. She is excited to be part of, and co-chair of the HEAL committee, and excited to see ways in which we can work together to reduce inequities in diabetes care. 

Stephanie Crossen, MD MPH, is a pediatric endocrinologist and Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of California, Davis. Her research leverages telehealth and digital health technology to improve care delivery and outcomes for youth with T1D, particularly those from marginalized groups or at risk for poor outcomes. Her current NIDDK-funded projects evaluate the impact of remote monitoring for patients not reaching A1c goals, telehealth-facilitated peer support for diabetes technology use among Latinx adolescents, and a telehealth transition-of-care intervention for young adults with public insurance. She is thrilled to be a part of the T1D Exchange QI Collaborative!

Halis Kaan Akturk, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, Adult Clinic, University of Colorado. His research interests are investigating new diabetes technologies and therapeutics in type 1 diabetes. He recently received the 2024 Rising Star Award from AACE (American Association of Clinical Endocrinology) for his contributions to type 1 diabetes care and research. He is the ADA (American Diabetes Association) Diabetes Technology Interest Group Communications Director and ADA Annual Scientific Sessions Planning Committee Co-Chair for Diabetes Technology Section.

Blake Adams, BSN, RN, serves as the site coordinator for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN and has been a part of the T1DX-QI since 2020. Blake graduated from the University of Tennessee Health Science Centers with her BSN and has been with Le Bonheur since 2004. Le Bonheur was awarded the T1D Exchange Outstanding Pediatric Team in 2022. Blake is excited to serve as a co-chair for the QI Champions Committee and looks forward to collaborating with fellow site coordinators to help create innovative QI projects that improve the lives of people with diabetes.

Lydia Holly, BSN, RN, brings her passion for quality improvement to her role as the Co-chair of the T1D Exchange QI Champion’s committee. Her experience at Children’s National Hospital, including her roles as a float pool nurse, diabetes clinic lead, and QI/clinical coordinator, has cultivated her skills in optimizing patient care and quality outcomes. Lydia’s commitment to continuous improvement guides her desire to foster collaborative advancements in diabetes care through the T1D Exchange community.