Kisha J. Ali, PhD, MS

Dr. Kisha J. Ali is an expert in health services research and policy, patient safety and quality of care improvement, implementation science, and improving U.S. rural healthcare. Her experience encompasses study design methodology, mixed-methods evaluation, content development, and training clinical teams in hospitals with a wide range of resources, and heterogeneity in setting.

She has 16 years of experience, inclusive of 12 years in public health research, 1-year in clinical research, and 3 years in laboratory research. Her experience includes designing, implementing, and sustaining patient safety and quality improvement interventions, collaborating with Hospital Associations across the U.S., and internationally, with organizations such as the CDC and PEPFAR. She has conducted assessments at hospitals, trained clinical staff on using patient safety and quality improvement tools, adapted toolkits to be context specific, provided coaching to teams during implementation, and used mixed-methods evaluations to inform recommendations for improving care within the constraints of existing resources.

Dr. Ali’s focus is to improve U.S. rural healthcare. Her dissertation research provided novel insight to hospital barriers, mitigation strategies, healthcare system enablers, and policy recommendations for realigning national processes to facilitate U.S. rural hospital patient safety and quality improvement. Her findings contribute to the evidence base for improving healthcare delivery in rural America, offering actionable strategies for addressing the challenges posed by funding and geographic constraints. There are no existing studies address this gap.

At MedStar Health, Dr. Ali works on several initiatives, such as a NIH pragmatic clinical trial to reduce chronic lower back pain and opioid use among rural patients in Maryland. Dr. Ali also contributed to developing the publicly available AHRQ patient safety resources aimed at reducing diagnostic errors across complex healthcare ecosystems, including the TeamSTEPPS for Improving Diagnosis, Calibrate Dx, and Measure Dx toolkits. She further led the psychometric evaluation of a new diagnostic patient safety culture improvement tool for the TeamSTEPPS for Improving Diagnosis resource, developing the first valid and reliable instrument for measuring diagnostic-specific teamwork and communication.

She previously worked at the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, and was engaged in evaluating and implementing several patient safety and quality improvement initiatives in countries such as Uganda, Mozambique, and Ethiopia. She also taught copious quality improvement workshops, including the Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program and the TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer course, helping healthcare teams address local barriers to providing high-quality care.

Dr. Ali holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry with Honors from the City University of New York, a Master of Science degree in Biotechnology from the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, and a PhD degree in Health Services Research and Policy from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is also an Associate Faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, co-teaching two foundational graduate courses on healthcare quality improvement. She also serves as a Peer Reviewer for the Diagnosis Journal, and a Grant Reviewer for AHRQ’s Office of Extramural Research, Education, and Priority Populations Healthcare Safety and Quality Improvement Research Study Section.

Her work has been recognized through numerous professional awards, conference presentations, publications, and invited presentations, reflecting a career committed to advancing public health, especially for underserved rural populations.

Research interests:

• Health Policy
• Rural Health
• Health Services Research
• Implementation Science
• Patient Safety
• Quality Improvement
• Healthcare Delivery

Selected research:

1. Ali KJ, Galvez NJ, Craig S, Fortune M, McNemar M, Fetzer LM, Alexander K, Chanlongbutra A, Freeman W. Diagnostic Excellence in U.S. Rural Healthcare: A Call to Action. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; September 2024. AHRQ Publication No. 24-0010-9-EF. https://www.ahrq.gov/diagnostic-safety/resources/issue-briefs/dxsafety-rural-healthcare.html.

2. Ali KJ, Goeschel CA, Eckroade MM, Carlin KN, Haugstetter M, Shofer M, Rosen MA. The TeamSTEPPS for Improving Diagnosis Team Assessment Tool: Scale Development and Psychometric Evaluation. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2024 Feb;50(2):95-103. doi: 10.1016/j.jcjq.2023.08.009. Epub 2023 Aug 30. PMID: 37996307.

3. Tools To Improve Diagnostic Safety. 2024. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). https://www.ahrq.gov/diagnostic-safety/tools/index.html

4. Ali KJ, Goeschel CA, DeLia DM, Blackall LM, Singh H. The PRIDx Framework to Engage Payers in Reducing Diagnostic Errors in Healthcare. Diagnosis. 2024;11(1):17-24. doi: 10.1515/dx-2023-0042.

5. Ali KJ, Farley DO, Speck K, Catanzaro M, Wicker KG, Berenholtz SM. Measurement of Implementation Components and Contextual Factors in a Two-State Healthcare Quality Initiative to Reduce Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2014 Oct;35 Suppl 3(Suppl 3):S116-23. doi: 10.1086/677832. PMID: 25222890; PMCID: PMC6116911.

6. Rawat N, Yang T, Ali KJ, Catanzaro M, Cohen MD, Farley DO, Lubomski LH, Thompson DA, Winters BD, Cosgrove SE, Klompas M, Speck KA, Berenholtz SM. Two-State Collaborative Study of a Multifaceted Intervention to Decrease Ventilator-Associated Events. Crit Care Med. 2017;45(7):1208-1215. doi: 10.1097/ccm.0000000000002463.

7. Rosen M, Ali KJ, Buckley BO, Goeschel C. Leadership to Improve Diagnosis: A Call to Action. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; June 2021. AHRQ Publication No. 20(21)-0040-5-EF. https://www.ahrq.gov/diagnostic-safety/resources/issue-briefs/leadership.html