Education

We are committed to providing educational opportunities for our residents, fellows, faculty and healthcare professionals. Drs. Gunjan Tiyyagura and Noa Fleiss co-direct our quality education program. For residents and fellows, we partner with the GME office and offer a distinction track. For faculty and healthcare professionals we offer our Pediatric Quality Academy which will begin its 3^rd year this spring.

Residents and Fellows: Quality Improvement Track

The GME based HEPSQI track will provide practical and real-world education and experience for trainees who desire to begin a journey in healthcare improvement through rigorous improvement science and collaboration. Trainees who complete this pathway will have a firm foundation to continue and begin to lead quality improvement efforts in their next roles. Fulfillment of the requirements of this work will be awarded a certificate of distinction in quality improvement, patient safety, and healthcare equity. Noa Fleiss, MD and Gunjan Tiyyagura, MD, MHS are co-directors of pediatric quality and safety education.

Noa Fleiss, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics; Director of Quality Improvement for Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Pediatrics
Noa Fleiss joined the Yale School of Medicine faculty in 2020 after completing her Pediatric Residency and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Dr. Fleiss serves as Director of Quality Improvement for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, where she leads initiatives focused on neonatal sepsis prevention, healthcare-acquired infection reduction and small baby care. She is Co-Director of the Quality Improvement Curriculum within the Pediatric Residency Program and is dedicated to mentoring trainees pursuing careers in quality improvement and patient safety. Her scholarly work centers on neonatal infectious diseases, with a particular focus on the diagnosis and management of neonatal sepsis.
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Gunjan Tiyyagura, MD, MHS
Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine) and of Emergency Medicine; Director of Pediatric Quality and Safety Education, Pediatrics
Gunjan Tiyyagura completed her pediatric residency and chief residency at Columbia University before coming to Yale University for her Pediatric emergency medicine fellowship and a Masters in Health Science. Her primary interests are in improving recognition and reporting child abuse and neglect in acute care settings and developing family-centered interventions for household violence. She is the co-director of pediatric quality and safety education and the co-director of research in pediatric emergency medicine. She loves mentoring and teaching trainees and has worked with numerous trainees in research and QI.
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Residency Graduates with Distinction in Quality Improvement:

2026 Graduates:

Megha Desani, MD – NICU Fellow
Josh Daniel, DO – NICU Fellow
Trupti Ingle, MD – PICU Fellow
Cristina Rios Rivera, MD – ID Fellow
Brooke Lichak, MD – Pediatric Resident

2025 Graduates:

Eliza Brumer, MD
Luisa Ortiz, MD

2025-2026 Yale GME Distinction Pathway in Healthcare Equity, Patient Safety, and Quality Improvement (HEPSQI)

We are excited to welcome you to the Yale GME Distinction Pathway in Healthcare Equity, Quality Improvement, and Patient Safety. The goal of the distinction pathway is to ensure a firm foundation to continue and begin to lead quality improvement efforts in their next roles.

The Yale GME Distinction Pathway in Healthcare Equity, Patient Safety, and Quality Improvement (HEPSQI) will provide practical and real-world education and experience for trainees who desire to begin a journey in healthcare improvement through rigorous improvement science and collaboration. Trainees who complete this pathway will have a firm foundation to continue and begin to lead quality improvement efforts in their next roles. Fulfillment of the requirements of this work will be awarded a certificate of distinction in quality improvement, patient safety, and healthcare equity.

Yale GME Distinction Pathway: Healthcare Equity, Patient Safety, And Quality Improvement

To ensure longitudinal learning, the pathway typically takes 12 months or more and should be completed by the time that candidate graduates from their program. Successful completion of the checklist elements will be determined by departmental vice-chair or designated QI Educator, in conjunction with the GME QI Educators Committee.

Required Elements

Obtain the Basic IHI Certificate ~17 hours
Attend the GME sponsored Fall/Winter QI Bootcamps or departmentally sponsored didactics with similar learning objective ~8 hours
Launch a QI project culminating in project presentation using recommended rubric (Variable time)
Participate in a safety event analysis-simulation, departmental or hospital event review, RCA, M&M ~3 hours
Submit a safety event report (SAFER, JPSR)
Conduct (1) Peer Teaching Sessions related on any topic in QI/PS ~3 hours
Attend (1) relevant YNHH, VA, or YHHS QI Workgroup, committee, or leadership meeting ~1 hour

Optional and Encouraged Elements

Submit abstract for annual spring GME QI night and/or Health System annual spring QI Conference
Local/regional/National presentation of QI/PS project
Scholarship/manuscript publication

Sign Up

Because this is a rolling process, there will not be a deadline for the distinction pathway. Please direct questions to Linda Fan.

2025 Yale GME Health Equity, Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Symposium

Josh Daniel, DO
1st Prize “Reducing tracheal intubation adverse events and severe desaturations by increasing intubation premedication use in infants <1500 g: a quality improvement initiative”

For Faculty and Healthcare Professionals: Pediatric Quality Academy

The Pediatric Quality Academy is a comprehensive nine-month course designed for medical directors and their nursing leader partners to enhance their skills in quality improvement within pediatric healthcare. Meeting monthly for 90-minute sessions, the program includes brief five-minute presentations from each student group, followed by a focused didactic session. To support participants in applying their learning, each team is paired with an expert coach who provides guidance between sessions. Beginning in 2026, the course will be expanded to welcome the general faculty, broadening its impact on pediatric healthcare quality initiatives.

We have completed three sessions thus far with successful projects including:

Improving pain management in burn care at Bridgeport Hospital
Decreasing unnecessary supplemental oxygen on the Greenwich Hospital inpatient unit
Increasing language concordant anti-pyretic medication instructions in the Greenwich Hospital Emergency Department
Decreasing delays in home medication administration for behavioral health patien the Emergency Department
Decreasing the rate of IVH in infants born <29 weeks gestation
Increasing maternal breast milk usage in the Greenwich Hospital NICU
Increasing skin to skin practices in the Bridgeport NICU
Decreasing rates of diaper rash in the L&M NICU