
Meet the 2022 DxQI Seed Grant Awardees
SIDM has issued the third grant round, totaling $3 million over three years, as part of the organization’s DxQI Seed Grant Program. Sixteen organizations will receive awards up to $50,000 to test interventions to improve the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of diagnoses.


Special Award Areas:
- With the additional support of The John A. Hartford Foundation, SIDM will award an “Age-Friendly Care” DxQI Seed Grant. The awardee will implement a project to improve diagnostic quality and safety for older adults. This work is vital because diagnostic error in older adults is common and errors frequently arise from contributing factors that are unique to this population, including polypharmacy, cognitive issues such as dementia, mobility limitations, and chronic illnesses.
DxQI Seed Grant Overview
Given the magnitude of diagnostic error burden, SIDM advocates for increased attention by health systems to improve the quality of their diagnostic processes. This goes beyond avoiding errors and includes consideration of accuracy, timeliness, cost, and patient convenience. Designing optimal diagnostic processes will require careful balancing among these competing demands. Given the dearth of solutions, we believe catalyzing a "bottom-up" approach, whereby frontline health professionals and patients are engaged in quality improvement to develop and test plausible solutions, will most likely produce the best outcomes.
Areas for Improvement
Over the course of three years, grants will be awarded in the following categories:
- The Big Three (see David Newman-Toker, et al. Serious misdiagnosis-related harms in malpractice claims: The “Big Three” – vascular events, infections, and cancers. Diagnosis 2019; 6(3): 227–240) 40% of awards
- Diagnostic Quality Disparities: Proposals that seek to reduce the risk of diagnostic error or delayed treatment and improve diagnostic quality outcomes related to health disparities associated with age, race/ethnicity, sex, and/or other social determinants of health. 40% of awards
SIDM strongly encourages organizations to submit proposals that address both areas of improvement: Big 3 and Diagnostic Quality Disparities.
- Open: Topics that do not address one of the previous two areas. Up to 20% of awards
Thank You to Our Grant Reiew Committee and Peer Judge Committee
*Organizations are shown for identification purposes only.
Grant Review Committee
Doug Salvador, MD, MPH – Committee Chair
Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer, Baystate Health
Jeff Brown, MEd
Learning Health System Advisor, Pen0bsc0t Healthcare
Lead Research Associate, The Schmidt Institute
Marie Jaffe
Director of Operations and Program Support, Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine
Brian Mittman, PhD
Research Scientist III, Division of Health Services Research & Implementation Science, Kaiser Permanente
Sarah Sampsel, MPH
Healthcare Quality Consultant, SLSampsel Consulting, LLC
Lucy Savitz, PhD, MBA
Vice President, Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest
Gordy Schiff, MD
Associate Director, Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, Brigham and Womens Hospital
Peer Judge Committee
Kristie Burnette, RN, MSN, CPHQ, CPPS
Director, Patient Safety and Quality, Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association
Claudia Butler, MBA, CPC, ELI-MP, CPHQ, CSSMBB
Chief Administrative Officer
Women’s Health of Central Virginia
Fred M. Castello, MD, MBA (retired)
Pediatrician and Former VP Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, Augusta Health
Koti Bateman Epperson, M.Ed
Member, SIDM Patient Engagement Committee
Active Association with Sepsis Alliance
Karen Harris, RN, MSN, CPHQ, CPPS
Division Director Clinical Quality, HCA Capital Division
Helen Haskell, MA
President, Mothers Against Medical Error
Chair, WHO Patients for Patient Safety Advisory Group
Harry Hoar, MD
Pediatric Hospitalist, Director of Clinical Reasoning Education, Baystate Health
Marie Jaffe
Director of Operations and Program Support, Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine
Karen M Johnson, BSN, RN, CCMSCP
Sr. Director Patient Safety, Baystate Health
Barbara Jones
Missouri & Advocacy Coordinator
Kirti Joshi, M.D. FACP
Academic Hospitalist and Medical Director, Patient Safety, Baystate Medical Center
G. Michael Lynch, M.D., FAAFP, CPXP, CPHQ
Principal, G. Michael Lynch, M.D. Healthcare Consulting, L.L.C.
Jana Rojas, MPT
President and Co-Founder, Elysa Foundation
Suz Schrandt, JD
Senior Patient Engagement Advisor, Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine
Nelson Toussaint
President, Tamarac LLC
Divvy Kant Upadhyay, MD, MPH
Scientist and Program Manager (Quality, Safety & Patient Experience), Geisinger
Ramsey Abdallah, MBAM CPHQ, PMP
Senior Director, Quality Management & Performance Improvement, Northwelll Health
Laura Evans, MSN
Director of Medical Management
Peak Health, WVU Medicine
Ingrid Black, MBA, CPHQ
Director of Continuous Improvement
Florida Divison, Cleveland Clinic
Gail Miller, RN, MS, CPHQ
Vice President, Quality & Patient Safety
Mount Nittany Health, State College, PA
Donna Saxton, MHA, MPH, FACHE, CPHQ
Sr. Director Employer Services
Beaumont Health
Desiree Collins Bradley
Patient Engagement Network Lead
ATW Health Solutions
Gwen Mayes, JD, MMSc
Independent Health Consultant and Patient Story Coach
GwenCO Health
Claire Sachs
Founder, The Patient Advocate's Chronicles
TPAC Consulting