Dr. Yang is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of the Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center, Center for Healthcare Studies at Northwestern. He has a secondary appointment in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Yang is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and attended medical school at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He trained in general surgery at Northwestern and then went on to complete research and clinlcat fellowships in surgical oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. His clinical interests are in pancreatic, hepatobiliary, and endocrine surgery. Dr. Yang's research interests are in the area of health services and clinical outcomes research, specifically in practical implementation of best practices and improving healthcare quality measurement. He is currently involved in many healthcare quality improvement projects and research endeavors, the most prominent of which is the Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative (ISQIC). Dr. Yang is the current director of the statewide quality improvement projects for the 55 hospitals in ISQIC, and is the surgeon lead of the ISQIC site visit team. He is also the co-director of the resident quality improvement curriculum in the Department of Surgery at Northwestern University, which teaches surgical residents process improvement principles through a formal curriculum and a year-long mentored quality improvement project. Dr. Yang has personally led multiple quality improvement projects at the hospital level, most notably a successful project to decrease catheter-associated urinary tract infections in surgical patients using novel interventions. He is also a co-Investlgator on the Flexibility In duty hour Requirements for Surgical Trainees (FIRST) Trial, a national randomized trial with the goal of determining whether more flexible work hour requirements for surgical residents is associated with any difference in postoperative outcomes compared to current resident work hours requirements. He has published over 30 peer reviewed articles and will also complete his Master's Degree in Healthcare Quality and Safety in July of 2016.

Dr. Bilimoria is a surgical oncologist and a health services, quality improvement, and health policy researcher at Northwestern Medicine.  He is the Vice President for Quality for the Northwestern Medicine system.  He is also the Vice Chair for Quality in the Department of Surgery and the John B. Murphy Professor of Surgery. His clinical practice is focused on melanoma and sarcoma. Dr. Bilimoria is the Director of the Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center of Northwestern University (SOQIC), a center of 55 faculty, fellows, and staff focused on national, regional, and local quality improvement and policy research, as well as implementing practical improvement initiatives.  He is the Director of the 56-hospital Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative (ISQIC) and Principal Investigator of the national 151-hospital FIRST Trial and the 215-hospital SECOND Trial. He is a Faculty Scholar at the American College of Surgeons.  He has published more than 350 scientific articles, including numerous publications in JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Bilimoria’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Health Care Services Corporation, and numerous others, totaling over $35,000,000. He was recently listed by Becker’s as one of the “Top 50 Experts Leading the Field of Patient Safety” in the U.S.  He has held several national leadership positions, including as the president of several national societies and serving on the board of multiple surgical, oncology, and research societies/organizations. 

Rachel R. Kelz, MD MSCE FACS is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a board certified general surgeon (2005, 2015) with an active endocrine surgery practice and formal training in health services research. She serves as an Associate Program Director of the General Surgery Residency Program and the Director of the Center for Surgery and Health Economics in the Department of Surgery. Dr. Kelz serves as the surgeon champion for the ACS NSQIP at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kelz is the recipient of the Gordon P. Buzby Award for leadership and the Mentorship Award from the Department of Surgery. She was awarded the Christian R. and the Mary F. Lindback Award for distinguished teaching from the Provost’s office at the University of Pennsylvania. The Lindback is the most prominent educational award given by the University. Dr. Kelz leads the Quality In-Training Initiative (QITI) of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Improvement Program. The QITI is a national collaborative of teaching hospitals designed to integrate outcomes and quality improvement into surgical education. Dr. Kelz has focused her research interests on the improvement of surgical outcomes through the use of innovative investigation and the development of novel education techniques. She has received private and public grant support for her research and has authored numerous chapters and more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts. She is currently funded by a grant entitled, “Using Patient Outcomes to Inform Surgical Education” (NIH-NIA 1R01AG049757-01A1*). Dr. Kelz received a BS in Mathematics from Union College in Schenectady, NY, her MD from Yale University in New Haven, CT and an MS in Clinical Epidemiology and Statistics from the University of Pennsylvania. *The opinions that she will share are her own and may not reflect the views of the NIA.

Dr. David Mahvi joined the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 2008 as the James R. Hines Professor of Surgery, chief division of gastrointestinal and oncologic surgery, and vice chair for clinical affairs. He served as President of Northwestern Medical Group from 2013 until September of this year. As President, Dr. Mahvi oversaw the ambulatory operations of Northwestern and directed an organization of over 1,100 physicians and 2,200 staff charged with providing care to more than 700,000 patients a year. Dr. Mahvi led the Northwestern Medical Group during the integration of Northwestern Physicians Group and the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation into Northwestern Medicine. Before joining Northwestern, Dr. Mahvi served for 19 years on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison ultimately as Chief of Surgical Oncology and Director of the General Surgery Residency Program. He lead a research laboratory in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin School of Engineering. The American Board of Surgery (ABS), the national certifying body for surgeons elected Dr. Mahvi as Chair for 2014 – 2015. During his tenure, he developed national policy on the education and management of the surgical workforce. Dr. Mahvi joined the ABS in 2007 as a representative of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), where he also served as President. A native of Oklahoma, Dr. Mahvi completed his undergraduate work in microbiology and pre-medicine at the University of Oklahoma and went on to obtain his MD at the Medical University of South Carolina. He then served his residency and completed a research fellowship in immunology at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Mahvi's research interests have focused on the development of new biomedical devices in the treatment of liver cancer—he is a national and international authority in the field of hepatobiliary cancer, and has previously developed, manufactured, and performed clinical trials of novel biologics. Dr. Mahvi has authored/ co-authored 100+ peer reviewed research articles, has presented both nationally and internationally on cancer-related topics, and has been a national speaker on the design of health care systems. His work has led to collaborations with the engineering school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and subsequently with the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. Dr. Mahvi has also collaborated in creating joint educational programs for engineers and clinical trainees.