Leadership
Kristine "Kristi" Groves, RN, BSN, MBA-HCM, CPHQ
Acting Associate Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Quality and Patient Safety (ADUSHQPS)
Kristine "Kristi" Groves, RN, BSN, MBA-HCM, CPHQ, was detailed to the role of Acting Associate Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Quality and Patient Safety (QPS) effective Nov. 11, 2024. QPS brings together health care-based analytics, quality management and patient safety to support a comprehensive framework promoting safe, timely, effective, efficient, and equitable patient-centered healthcare services.
In her primary position she is the Executive Director, Office of Quality Management (QM), Quality and Patient Safety QPS, and oversees the VHA Quality Management division which supports the ongoing assessment and improvement of health care outcomes and health care delivery processes.
QM program offices help ensure VA is hiring the right providers, identifying evidence-based practices, screening for deviations from standards of care, and keeping facilities in a continuous state of readiness and compliance with industry standards. Ms. Groves also serves as co-director of the National Organization for Leadership and Analytics University (NOLA U) and the VHA Management Representative for the VA AFGE Quality Council.
Prior to her current position, she served as the Director for the Center for Improvement Coordination in QPS. She was responsible for the development, deployment, support and guidance for key initiatives and actions contributing to health care delivery systems and process improvements related to quality health care outcomes throughout the VHA. Ms. Groves has also held positions within the VHA Office of System Redesign; Office of Quality, Safety, Value-ISO Consultation Division; Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System Joint Ambulatory Care Center; and the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center. In addition to her 15 years served in VHA, she held both clinical and leadership roles with the Department of Defense in Europe and Asia.
Ms. Groves holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing, a Master's Degree in Business Administration, Master's Certificates in Health Care Management and Project Management, has a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ). In addition to her work within the VHA, Ms. Groves also serves as a Senior Examiner on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Examiners.
Eddaliss Gonzalez-Ruiz, RN, MPH, DNP Candidate, NE-BC
Interim Clinical Executive, Office of Quality and Patient Safety
Ms. Gonzalez-Ruiz joins QPS from her position as the Associate Director for Patient Care Services/Nurse Executive at the VA Kansas City Health Care System. She began her career with the VA in 2007 as a new graduate medical surgical RN at the San Juan VA Medical Center. During her time with the VA Kansas City Health Care System, she has held multiple additional roles, including clinic nurse manager, details as the Associate Chief Nurse of Specialty Care and Deputy ADPCS, and Associate Chief Nurse of Inpatient Services in 2018.
From 2020 to 2022, she served as the Executive for High Reliability, with facility oversight of quality, patient safety, and process improvement.
She has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master's in Public Health from the University of Puerto Rico and is currently completing her Doctorate in Nursing Practice with the University of Missouri. She is a Certified Transformational Coach, Improvement Advisor and is LEAN Black Belt Certified. She was also an adjunct professor of Nursing for the BSN program at the Interamerican University School of Nursing.
Tamara L. Box, PhD, FAMIA
Executive Director, Office of Analytics and Performance Integration
Tamara L. Box, PhD, serves as the Executive Director for the Office of Analytics and Performance Integration in the Office of Quality and Patient Safety (QPS).
Prior to becoming the Executive Director, Dr. Box was the Deputy Director of API and the Director of Clinical Systems Development and Evaluation (CSDE), where she focused on creating integrated workflow solutions for clinical care, including the development and implementation of the VA Clinical Assessment, Reporting, and Tracking (CART) Program as well as the recently released COVID-19 National Surveillance Tool (NST). She was the program manager and subject matter expert for the advanced analytics platform intra-agency development agreement with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratories and has worked extensively with other data science efforts, including artificial intelligence, registries and population health-based metrics.
Dr. Box began her VA career over 20 years ago with both the National Center for Health Promotion and Health Services Research and Development in Durham, North Carolina. After moving to Denver in 2001, she became the Associate IT Director for the National Cardiovascular Care Improvement Program and the Continuous Improvement in Cardiac Surgery Program. In 2005, she joined the VA Clinical Assessment, Reporting, and Tracking Program as Health IT Lead.
Dr. Box earned her bachelor's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Duke University and her PhD in Clinical Sciences, Health Information Technology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences. She is a Fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association and is a past Board Chair of the Rocky Mountain American Diabetes Association.
Edward E. Yackel, DNP, FNP-C, FAANP
Executive Director, National Center for Patient Safety
Dr. Yackel oversees the VHA National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS), and associate offices of Utilization Management (UM) and Optimizing Healthcare Valuation Program (OHVP). Dr. Yackel joined National Center for Patient Safety in December 2019 after retiring from an extensive Military career reaching the highest rank of Colonel.
Through his education, experience, and leadership, has had a tremendous impact on patient safety. He was instrumental in leading the Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) into a quality improvement journey establishing MEDCOM as a learning organization through several changes. One of the system-wide changes included engaging multidisciplinary teams in developing solution sets to improve health care outcomes. Recognized as a leader, Dr. Yackel has consulted in the private and public sectors and published multiple peer-review articles. He has also presented at many professional conferences in efforts to share his knowledge, improving patient safety and quality.
Currently serves as a senior VA patient safety executive who provides national leadership for the formulation, establishment, operation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of effective management policies, programs, and practices for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) that maximize clinical patient safety delivered across the full continuum of care sites. Assists the Executive Director in leading VHAs Patient Safety improvement initiatives.
Dr. Yackel received his Doctorate in Nursing from Duke University, his Master's in Nursing from the University of Michigan, Master's in Strategic Studies from the Army War College and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Lake Superior University.
Gauri Behari, MD
Acting Executive Director, Office of Quality Management
Before joining OQM, Dr. Behari served as the VISN 22 Specialty Care Integrated Clinical Communities Lead, providing collaborative oversight of 18 specialties across eight VHA medical facilities since 2021. In this position, she prioritized equitable access to care for our Veterans by promoting the use of telehealth and optimizing interfacility/interVISN consults and other resource-sharing modalities.
She also led multiple initiatives to improve productivity, quality, and Veteran experience in addition to providing oversight to the VISN 22 TeleEmergency Care, TeleSpecialty CRH, and Oncology Data Management programs. Dr. Behari began her career with VHA in 2019 as the Specialty Telehealth Director and Endocrinologist at the Phoenix VA Health Care System (VAHCS), where she established the Specialty Telehealth program. This prepared them well for the pandemic and supported the Phoenix VAHCS in leading VHA with the high use of VA Video Connect (VVC) during the pandemic. Her TeleCOVID program, which managed patients with COVID-19 symptoms virtually, was a 2020 Shark Tank finalist and has expanded into what is now the VISN 22 TeleEmergency Care program.
In 2020, she developed the Office of Rural Health funded Enterprise-Wide Initiative Rural TeleDiabetes program, which provides interdisciplinary specialized diabetes care to rural Veterans across VISN 22. This innovative program offers team-based diabetes care (including mental health) via telemedicine to rural Veterans and has demonstrated a decreased HbA1c from an average of 9.8% to 7.9% at 6 months while reducing diabetes distress. TeleDiabetes expanded to the VISN 22 TeleEndocrinology hub as part of the VISN 22 Clinical Resource Hub (CRH) in FY24. In collaboration with the Office of Connected Care, Dr. Behari developed the Diabetes and Endocrinology Supplement Guides for establishing and maintaining telehealth clinics at VHA facilities and CBOCs.
In 2023, Dr. Behari served as the Acting Executive Director for the Healthcare Operations Center. In this role, she co-developed the enterprise-balanced scorecard and worked closely with the Office of Healthcare Transformation in the VHA Priority to Action Initiative.
Dr. Behari's passion lies in caring for rural endocrinology patients, which has helped fuel her passion for supporting access to specialty care. She provides face-to-face and virtual care at rural CBOCs in the Northern Arizona and Phoenix VA Healthcare Systems.
Dr. Behari completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the Ochsner Chabert Medical Center in Houma, Louisiana, and her fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2020, she received the VHA COVID Hero Award for Innovation, and in 2022, she received the VA Video Connect Distinguished Leader Award from the Office of Connected Care.
