NAHQ Honors Excellence in Healthcare Quality Leadership
December 19, 2025Share:
Association Recognizes Distinguished Fellows and Rising Quality Stars in Announcement of its 2025 Annual Awards
CHICAGO (December 19, 2025) – The National Association for Healthcare Quality® (NAHQ) recognizes outstanding healthcare Quality professionals through its annual awards program, honoring individuals who demonstrate excellence, leadership, and a sustained commitment to advancing healthcare Quality & Safety.
Each year, NAHQ celebrates leaders whose work strengthens the profession and improves outcomes across healthcare organizations nationwide. The 2025 awards include recognition through NAHQ Fellowship and the Rising Quality Star Award.
NAHQ Fellowship recognizes healthcare Quality professionals who exemplify leadership, service, scholarship, and mentorship, and who serve as role models for the profession. Fellows demonstrate excellence across four foci: leadership and service, published works, lectures and presentations, and mentorship.
Patricia Resnik, President of NAHQ’s Board of Directors, shared, “NAHQ is proud to recognize healthcare Quality professionals who lead with purpose, rigor, and heart. Their work not only improves outcomes today but also shapes the future of our profession. It is an honor to acknowledge the impact of this year’s award recipients.”
In 2025, Marian Savage, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CPHQ, PMP, Vice President of Quality and Patient Experience at Roper St. Francis Healthcare, was inducted into NAHQ’s distinguished Fellowship.
Savage is a nationally recognized healthcare Quality and patient safety executive with more than 20 years of experience leading enterprise-wide Quality, risk, and safety programs. In her role at Roper St. Francis Healthcare, she provides strategic oversight for clinical quality, patient safety, risk management, infection prevention, and patient experience across multiple hospitals, ambulatory sites, and physician practices. Her leadership has resulted in sustained Leapfrog “A” ratings, Top Hospital recognition, significant reductions in hospital-acquired infections, and the advancement of high-reliability and just culture principles.
NAHQ also honored Adrien M. Ross, MSN, RN, CPHQ, Lead Quality Improvement Specialist at Corewell Health, with the Rising Quality Star Award, which recognizes emerging leaders who are making a meaningful impact early in their healthcare Quality careers.
With more than 15 years of experience in healthcare Quality, Ross has led system-wide improvement initiatives focused on patient safety, performance improvement, regulatory readiness, and high-reliability care. In her current role, she facilitates clinical performance improvement across multiple service lines, including emergency care, procedural sedation, obstetrics, and surgical services. Her work has contributed to measurable reductions in Patient Safety Indicators across a multi-hospital system, as well as improvements in stroke care, sepsis response, and procedural safety. Ross is also recognized for her ability to build and mentor interdisciplinary improvement teams and for advancing standard work that supports sustainable quality outcomes.
About NAHQ
The National Association for Healthcare Quality® (NAHQ) is at the forefront of elevating the profession and advancing the discipline of quality & safety across the continuum of care. We set the industry standard through our expert-created, twice-validated Healthcare Quality Competency Framework™ and help individuals and organizations achieve it through educational programming, industry leading data-driven intelligence, and the only accredited certification in healthcare quality, Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality® (CPHQ). NAHQ also serves as a welcoming membership community and a trusted partner to 150+ organizations helping build quality infrastructures, workforce planning and professional development programs and quality cultures. Learn more at NAHQ.org.
Media Contact:
Evelyn Warren
704.488.7690
ewarren@nahq.org
To achieve Quality, Safety and Value, follow the NAHQ Framework
At the core of all NAHQ offerings is our Healthcare Quality Competency Framework™. This twice-validated Framework, endorsed by Joint Commission, identifies the domains that define Quality and the industry standard competencies required to effectively advance Quality and advance healthcare.
