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VA Sunshine Healthcare Network

 

Leadership and Staff

VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, Tampa

 

Tatjana Bulat, MD, CMD is the Director of the Tampa Patient Safety Center of Inquiry (PSCI), a translational research center; Medical Director of the Falls Clinic there, and a Co-Director of the Interprofessional Fellowship Program in Patient Safety. Her research interests are in the area of falls and fall-related injury prevention in frail elderly, as well as medication management to reduce falls risk in the same population. Click here to download Dr. Bulat's CV.

Patricia Quigley, PhD, MPH, ARNP, CRRN, FAANP is an Associate Director, as well as the Team Leader for Injurious Falls. She is a nurse practitioner in adult health, a clinical nurse specialist in rehabilitation, certified in rehabilitation nursing, and a funded nurse researcher. She has expertise in patient safety, program evaluation, rehabilitation, functional independence, fall and injurious fall prevention across settings, and epidemiology.

Gail Powell-Cope, PhD, ARNP, FAAN is the Team Leader for Safe Patient Handling. She is currently the Tampa site co-Director of the Center of Innovation on Disability & Rehabilitation Research VISN 8 (CIDRR8) as well as Site Director for the Interdisciplinary Patient Safety and HSR&D Postdoctorate Fellowship Programs. Dr. Powell-Cope has research expertise in patient falls, fall-related injuries, bed-rail entrapments, safe patient handling, research translation, socio-technical probability risk assessment, and qualitative research methods.

 

Staff

Karen Besterman-Dahan, RD, PhD / Medical Anthropology
Dezon Finch, PhD
Yvonne Friedman, MA, OTR/L / VISN 8 PSCI Administrative Officer
Deborah Gavin-Dreschnak, PhD
Lisa Goff / Physical Therapist
Joe Gutmann, MD
Stephanie Hart-Hughes, PT / VISN 8 Clinical Falls Team
Valerie Kelleher / Information Specialist
Steve Luther, PhD
Mary Matz, IH, MSPH / Industrial Hygienist
Barbara McKenzie, MA / Project Manager
Helen Moore, PhD / Clinical Gerontology
Gail Powell-Cope, PhD, ARNP, FAAN / Nurse Researcher
Patricia Quigley, PhD, MPH, ARNP, CRRN, FAAN/Associate Director
Deborah Rugs, PhD

Research Trainees

Choose this link to go to the Training and Fellowship Opportunities page 

Theresa Crocker, PhD, RD / HSR&D Fellow
Allyson Duffy, PhD, RN / HSR&D Fellow
Anna Ialynytchev, PhD / Patient Safety Fellow
Chanedra Mells, MPH, CPH / Patient Safety Fellow