Patient Safety Fellows Pursue Patient Engagement to Reduce Preventable Harm

When communication fails in health care, the consequences can be life-altering. Misunderstood instructions, overlooked concerns, and language or cultural barriers can lead to preventable harm—and leave patients feeling powerless in moments when they most need support.

The 2025 Patient Safety Fellowship, which will conclude this month, takes aim at these gaps by bringing together 23 emerging health professionals for eight weeks of intensive learning focused on communication and patient empowerment as core pillars of safe, equitable care.

Hosted by the JHF and Health Careers Futures, this year’s Fellowship featured expert panels, interactive discussions, site visits, and patient stories that highlighted the real-world consequences of fragmented communication and power imbalances in care. Fellows took a critical look at how safety is shaped by trust-building, a willingness to listen, and building systems equipped to respond.

Team projects proposed during the Fellowship examined fall prevention for a long-term care provider, family engagement strategies in the pre-visit waiting period to enhance safety, a communication toolkit for addressing vaccine concerns, improving communication to support inclusive and trauma-informed care, and supporting patients through an unexpected transfer during childbirth. The projects were based on the expert insight of staff during site visits to The Willows, A Presbyterian SeniorCare Network Community; UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s Whole Child Wellness Clinic; The Midwife Center; the Squirrel Hill Health Center; and Allies for Health and Wellbeing.

“The Patient Safety Fellowship was a transformative experience that allowed me to apply my master of public health training to meaningful work with Allies for Health and Wellbeing, a local community clinic, where we redesigned patient intake processes to better identify social determinants of health and psychosocial needs, while developing staff training to recognize signs of trafficking and abuse. I gained hands-on experience in quality improvement and learned how interdisciplinary collaboration can drive impactful change for vulnerable populations like the LGBTQ+ community and individuals living with HIV,” said Aditi Choudhary, graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. “Moving forward, I plan to use the systems-thinking approach and professional network I’ve developed to advance health equity in infectious disease care, with patient safety at the center of my work.”

Numerous healthcare experts and leaders shared their insight with this summer’s fellows during the sessions. Special thanks to the following individuals for providing insight to the fellows: Rick Cancelliere, CEO and founder of Treatspace; David Classen, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Utah; Tejal Gandhi, MD, MPH, CPPS, chief safety and transformation officer at Press Ganey; Chad Hermann, PhD, ABD, VP of communications and strategy at the Trusted Messenger Program; Tamar Krishnamurti, PhD, associate professor of Medicine and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh; Salvador Gullo Neto, MD, PhD, BSMAS, CEO and founder of Safety4Me; Paul Phrampus, MD, director of the Winter Institute for Simulation, Education and Research (WISER) and professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Anesthesiology of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

"By participating in the Jewish Healthcare Foundation's 2025 Patient Safety Fellowship, I've had the opportunity to approach patient safety through an interdisciplinary lens, explore the latest research, and learn from patient safety industry leaders, all while networking with other Pittsburgh-area professionals,” said Cameron Lanza, MA, a PhD student and instructor at Duquesne University. “Through the final project, my team observed a working behavioral healthcare clinic, analyzed their patient experience to identify potential opportunities, and created a communication toolkit to increase patient safety. This experience has been invaluable, and I am confident it will inform my future projects and research."

Now in its 21st year, the Fellowship continues to serve as a training ground for the next generation of safety advocates. This cohort leaves with sharpened skills, new perspectives, and a shared commitment to advancing safer, more inclusive care.