Taruna R, Banerjee is the Associate Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer at Cambridge Health Alliance. In this key leadership role she is responsible for promoting a culture of safety, patient and staff engagement, and performance excellence aligned with national patient safety goals. She has an extensive background in managing quality improvement efforts, developing a culture of high reliability and safety, quality measurement, accreditation and regulatory compliance, and standardization of care. Taruna feels deeply committed to Cambridge Health Alliance mission and vision and is particularly proud of her work in advancing health equity. Taruna is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) and she has also completed the advanced training program (ATP) from Intermountain Healthcare. She received her BA from Wellesley College and her MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Taruna joined CHA in 2019 after serving as a Director of Quality and Safety at Boston Children’s Hospital. Prior to this Taruna worked at Mass General Brigham overseeing ambulatory and hospital quality measurement and improvement efforts.

Carmen Esther Gonzalez, MD, MSHQS, is a practicing board-certified professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine with clinical expertise in oncologic emergencies and the Chief Patient Safety Officer at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Gonzalez’s administrative expertise is in patient safety and organizational development. Dr. Gonzalez is certified in Quality Medicine by the American College of Medical Quality and obtained a Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety degree at Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Gonzalez currently leads the Patient Safety Quality Officer Program. She co-leads various institutional safety/quality initiatives, including High-Reliability Organizing, the Tiered Readiness Briefing, the Patient Safety Officer on-call, the Actionable Findings Vigilance Unit and the Patient Safety Incident Command at MD Anderson Cancer Center.In 2024, Dr. Gonzalez was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of the 90 Patient Safety Experts to Know.

Alana Newman is the Manager of Patient Safety at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Chief Quality Office. She earned her Master of Public Health and Master of Social Work degrees from Tulane University. Currently, she oversees a team of patient safety specialists, serves as a liaison to physician representatives in Patient Safety Quality Officer Program, and manages numerous institutional quality and safety strategic initiatives along with the institution’s safety event reporting system. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she collaborated with a multi-disciplinary team to establish a dedicated testing site on campus and served as an operations manager for employee vaccine clinics. Alana has a passion for conceptualizing initiatives in safety, quality improvement, and health equity and she is often recognized for her collaborative skills and ability to unify efforts across a variety of roles and departments in her organization.