Who We Are

Core QPS Team

  • Taylor A. Johnston, MD

    • Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at CUMC
    • Quality Assurance Chair
    Profile Headshot
  • Jonathan Adam Paul, DO

    • Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at CUMC
    • Director of Quality Improvement
    Profile Headshot
  • Shu Yun Zhu, NP

    • Quality and Patient Safety Nurse Practitioner
  • Jacob Aaronson, MS

    • Analytics Developer

Continuing Legacy

Our core team continues to be guided by the experience of the former QA Chair, Steve Mercer, MD and the former QA NP Mary Clark, FNP.  

Quality Executive Council

Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia: Stephen Lorenzen

Adult General Anesthesia (& Regional/ Orthopedic, Neuro, and Transplant): Cynthia Oben

Critical Care Medicine: Lauren Sutherland

Obstetric Anesthesia: Laurence Ring

Pain Management: Leena Mathew

Pediatric Anesthesia: Manon Hache

PACU: Caroline Jensen

APEX/Preop Clinic: Federico Ciardi

Allen Hospital: Cortessa Russell

The One: Anis Dizdarevic

CRNAs: Natalie John

Ad-hoc Representation: Chief Residents, Technicians, Others

Quality Assurance Committee 

Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia: Jessica Spellman (Division Chief), Allan Migirov, Allen Friedman, Andrea Miltiades, Anthony Schramm, Bessie Kachulis, Brody Wiles, Jonathan Hastie (Medical Director, CTICU), Lydia Miller, Naralys Batista, Nick Nishanian, Taylor Johnston (QA Chair), Teresa Mulaikal (Residency Program Director), Vikram Saxena

Adult General Anesthesia (& Regional / Orthopedic, Neuro, and Transplant): Tricia Brentjens (Executive Vice Chair), Cynthia Oben (Director, Milstein OR), Brian Egan (Patient Safety Rotation Director), Alex Rusanov, Anjan Saha, Gebhard Wagener, Gene Yocum, Jennifer Danielsson, Joseph Rumley, Paul Garcia (Neuro-anesthesia Division Chief), Samrat Worah

Critical Care Medicine: Vivek Moitra (Division Chief), Caroline Jensen (Medical Director, PACU), Cortessa Russell (Medical Director, Allen), Jonathan Paul (QI Director, Associate Medical Director, SICU), Lauren Sutherland (Associate Medical Director, CTICU), Stephen Lorenzen

Obstetric Anesthesia: Ruthie Landau (Division Chief), Laurence Ring, Rich Smiley, Stephanie Goodman, James Conwell

Pediatric Anesthesia: Albert Lin, Amy Mesa-Jonassen (Medical Director, CHONY ORs), Manon Hache (Clinical Director, CHONY), Riva Ko (Director, CHONY Orthopedics), Rob Kazim

Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine: Anis Dizdarevic (Medical Director, The One), Carolyn Thai

Quality and Patient Safety Champions

Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia: Stephen Lorenzen*, Taylor Johnston (QA Chair), Jessica Spellman (Division Chief), Bessie Kachulis, Brody Wiles, Jin Min Han, Nara Batista, Mandisa Jones

Adult General Anesthesia (& Regional / Orthopedic, Neuro, and Transplant): Cynthia Oben* (Milstein OR Director), Steve Mercer (Past QA Chair), Paul Garcia (Neuro-anesthesia Division Chief), Anis Dizdarevic (Regional Division Chief), Brian Egan (Patient Safety Rotation Director), Carolyn Thai, Kris Shin, Anna Maria Nuti, Christy He, Anjan Saha, Samantha Parsons

Critical Care Medicine: Lauren Sutherland* (Associate Medical Director, CTICU), Jonathan Hastie (Medical Director, CTICU), Vivek Moitra (Division Chief, Medical Director, SICU), Jonathan Paul (QI Director, Associate Medical Director, SICU), Steve Lorenzen, Mustafa Rasheed, Caroline Jensen, Kris Shin, James Conwell

Obstetric Anesthesia: Laurence Ring*, Ruthi Landau (Division Chief), James Conwell

Pain Management: Leena Mathew* (Division Chief), Mohammad Bawany

Pediatric Anesthesia: Manon Hache* (CHONY Clinical Director), Caleb Ing (Division Chief), Albert Lin (Oversees CHONY QA database), Daniel Victorio, Lisa Eisler, Teeda Pinyavat

PACU: Caroline Jensen (PACU Medical Director)

APEX / Preop Clinic: Parwane Pagano (APEX Director), Federico Ciardi

Allen Hospital: Cortessa Russell, Chris Bourgeois

The One: Anis Dizdarevic

CRNAs: Natalie John*, Arif Mohammed, Elaine Riano, Chris Bourgeois

Ad-hoc representation: Chief Residents, Technicians, Others

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