annual system-wide quality improvement and patient safety fair symposium
april 11th, 2025 | 8am-1pm | zucker school of medicine/ hofstra
Northwell Health's annual System-Wide Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (QI/PS) Fair Symposium recognizes outstanding projects by students, trainees, and faculty across all our educational programs. This symposium provides an opportunity to showcase achievements in quality improvement and patient safety.
The QI/PS Fair is open to medical students, residents, fellows, post-doctoral trainees; nurses, allied health professionals, physician assistant students, and affiliated students from the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing & Physician Assistant Studies.
The symposium features inspiring keynote addresses from quality experts, awards prizes to winners, and offers a unique opportunity to network, learn from experts, and contribute to our shared pursuit of healthcare excellence. Similar to academic competitions, submissions must be based on activities at Northwell Health, the Zucker School of Medicine, or the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing & Physician Assistant Studies.
Our inaugural symposium, held on April 19, 2024, showcased over 30 posters and awarded three cash prizes. Attendees included numerous Northwell leadership, such as Dr. Andrew Yacht, Dr. Tara Zahtila, Dr. Peter Silver, the Clinical Transformation Team, who recognized the exceptional work of our participants. All submitted posters are featured in Hofstra Academic Works, and the award-winning posters were highlighted in the Office of Academic Affairs Quality Watch, Issue 1. Additional posters will be featured in Issue 2.
By participating in the System Wide Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Symposium learners will be able to:
Integrate medical trainees into authentic proactive error prevention activities.
Appraise resident/fellow driven projects aimed at improving quality or care, patient safety, equity in health outcomes, and/or environmental sustainability in healthcare
Generate projects that involve an interdisciplinary team to ensure that all stakeholders are in accord.
We will be offering CME credit for this year’s System Wide Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Fair Symposium.
meet our keynote speaker and planning committee
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Dr. Anjala Tess
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Our Keynote Speaker this year will be Dr. Anjala Tess. Anjala Tess, MDis a practicing hospitalist in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Associate Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), and an associate professor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. She completed both Rabkin and HMS Academy educational fellowships and has over 15 years of experience in teaching and developing educational programming in quality and safety.
She developed a novel QI curriculum that has trained over 500 residents and fellows, many of whom are now dispersed throughout the country leading programs. She serves as the Program Director for the Harvard Medical School Patient Safety and Quality Fellowship, a fulltime operational CRICO-sponsored fellowship across major HMS sites. She is Director of Quality and Safety for Graduate Medical Education at BIDMC where she oversees education in quality for all GME programs. Nationally she has been active in defining the evolving expectations of quality and safety education through guidelines for training and participating in collaborations with the National Patient Safety Foundation and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. She is currently co-director of The Society of Hospital Medicine’s Quality and Safety Educators Academy (QSEA), a national faculty development academy with over 400 graduates in the last five years.
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Dr. Ethan fried
MASTER OF CEREMONY
Dr. Fried is currently Associate Chair for Education and Internal Medicine Residency Program Director at Lenox Hill Hospital, part of Northwell Health and Professor of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine. He is also Associate Designated Institutional Official for Lenox Hill. In 2017 he was made Northwell Health VP for Academic Affairs. In this role he has created a system wide curriculum in patient safety and quality improvement. He serves as a mentor to the QI Champions Committee and is the Master of Ceremony for the Annual System Wide Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Fair Symposium.
Dr. Fried has served as national President of the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine in 2010-11 and was Chair of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine Committee for Diversity and Inclusion from 2011 - 2017. His research is in patient safety and medical errors and in teaching clinical skills with formative OSCEs. In 2012, Dr. Fried was inducted as a Master of the American College of Physicians. In 2017 he was promoted to full Professor of Medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and in 2019 he was inducted into the Zucker School of Medicine Academy of Medical Educators.
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Niara Comrie
PROJECT MANAGER
Niara Comrie is the Senior Manager of Quality Improvement and a GME Training Program Administrator for Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital. In her Senior Manager of Quality Improvement role, she supports the development and improvement of the quality improvement curriculum alongside Dr. Ethan Fried and coordinates a team of quality champions across the health system.
She works closely with residents and fellows, serving as a resource to help them connect with opportunities and tools for their quality improvement projects. She also collaborates with the Lenox Hill PICG to highlight resident projects at monthly meetings.
Additionally, she organizes the Annual System Wide Quality Fair, managing tasks such as collecting abstracts, arranging posters, and coordinating event logistics. Through these efforts, she supports residents and fellows in showcasing their work and advancing quality improvement initiatives across the institution.