All Care is Brain Care
2025-2026 Faculty
Lead faculty for the collaborative provide expertise in quality improvement, measurement, partnering with families, and key drivers of preventing injury, protecting normal maturation and development, and promoting positive experiences and relationships for all infants and families, while content lead faculty are subject matter experts and specialists with clinical (and potentially research) experience related to neurodevelopmental and neonatal care. Additionally, each homeroom in the NICQ level of QI membership is supported by dedicated faculty of a QI leader, family leader, and clinical translator.
Lead Faculty and Consultants

Marie Abraham, MA
Marie Abraham, MA is the Vice President for Programming and Publications for the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care (IPFCC). Ms. Abraham serves as a care expert for the VON NICQ collaborative and serves as IPFCC’s Project Director for the Maternal and Child Health Measurement Research Network.

Sonia Bonifacio, MD
Sonia Bonifacio, MD is a Clinical Professor, Pediatrics – Neonatal and Developmental Medicine at Standford Medical. She has a passion for families and for developmental care, with a focus on preventing brain injuries to lessen long term outcomes.

Marybeth Fry, MEd
Marybeth Fry, MEd is a leader of the VON NICQ collaborative and a NICU Family Care Coordinator at Akron Children’s Hospital. The 2004 birth of Marybeth’s daughter at 28 weeks gestation and subsequent three-month NICU stay introduced her to a world she never knew existed and she wanted other NICU families to know they weren’t alone.

Heather Kaplan MD, MSCE
Heather Kaplan MD, MSCE is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Perinatal Institute and the James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). She serves as an attending neonatologist at CCHMC and at large community level 3 NICUs. She is the Co-Director of Quality Improvement for the Perinatal Institute and is responsible for quality improvement activities across a network of 15 hospitals.

Elizabeth Rogers, MD
Elizabeth Rogers, MD is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at University of California San Francisco, practices neonatology in the Intensive Care Nursery (ICN), and is the Director of the ROOTS Program, The Grove Small Baby Unit, and the ICN Follow Up Program at UCSF.

Bundling Care to Reduce IVH

Amy Atwater
Quality Leader: Amy Atwater is a Senior Patient Safety Specialist at Corewell Health in Grand Rapids, MI where she oversees projects that promote patient safety and outcomes. She has over 20 years of experience in Quality Improvement and has participated in VON first as a NICU nurse in 2002 and more recently as a faculty member.

Khorshid Mohammad, MD, MSc, FABP, FRCP (Edin)
Content Lead: Dr. Khorshid Mohammad is a Staff Neonatologist at Alberta Health Services, Calgary Zone, Professor of Pediatrics at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, and Medical Site lead of Neonatology at Alberta Children’s Hospital. Dr. Mohammad’s quality improvement work led to significant reduction in mortality and brain injury in extremely premature infants and term infants suffered from asphyxia and seizure, for that he was awarded as Emerging Leader in Neonatology by the Canadian Pediatric Society in 2020. Dr. Mohammad’s areas of research interest are education, brain perfusion, monitoring, and Quality Improvement neuroprotection strategies.

Alan Picarillo, MD
Clinical Translator: Dr. Alan Picarillo works as medical director and neonatologist at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital level 4 NICU. Additionally, Dr. Picarillo is involved in the creation, implementation, and data analysis of quality improvement efforts in newborn medicine.

Alex Zavala
Family Leader: Alex Zavala is a small business owner in Austin, TX, who has a passion for supporting NICU Dads. As a NICU dad to two preemie daughters, he understands firsthand the challenges that come with navigating the NICU. In 2018, he founded The NICU Dad, an online platform aimed at providing support and resources to other NICU dads going through the same experience. Alex is a member of the Dell Children’s Medical Center NICU Quality Improvement team and the Dell Children’s Medical Center PFAC. He brings his unique perspective as a NICU dad to these roles, advocating for improvements in care and support for families.

Optimizing Neurodevelopment for Infants with BPD

Arvelle Balon-Lyon, RN, BSN
Quality Leader: Arvelle Balon-Lyon, RN, BSN, has over 25 years of experience as an international nurse leader and has spearheaded healthcare transformation initiatives at regional, provincial, and national levels. She has served as a Quality Leader with the Vermont Oxford Network community for over a decade, leveraging her expertise to support family leaders and teams in improving care delivery for NICU babies. Arvelle is a grandma of a NICU baby – the most humbling and significant learning of her career. Arvelle’s expertise is deeply rooted in strengthening integrated primary and community health systems. She is recognized as a team and teamwork subject matter expert for improving systems that enhance community healthcare delivery.

Desiree Collins-Bradley
Family Leader: Desiree Collins-Bradley’s daughter was born with a genetic disorder, Jarcho Levin Syndrome. Her medical journey has inspired her to become an advocate not only for her daughter but also in the broader medical community. She has become involved in several committees at the hospital, including the Newborn Center Family Advisory Committee. She currently manages a very interactive patient network PPIC, Patient Partner Innovation Community, of over 3,000 members across the country.

Elizabeth Schierholz, PhD, NNP-BC
Clinical Translator: Elizabeth Schierholz, PhD, NNP-BC has worked in the NICU for the past 20+ years as a nurse and a nurse practitioner. She currently works for Children’s Hospital Colorado, in Denver, Colorado. She obtained her PhD at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania focused on health services research, health policy, innovation and improvement of health care systems with an emphasis on the impact of the work environment and infant outcomes.

Karen Thomas, MD FRCPC
Content Lead: Karen Thomas, MD FRCPC, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University. Dually trained in Neonatology and Developmental Pediatrics, Dr. Thomas is a Neonatologist and the Director of the Neonatal Follow-Up Clinic at McMaster Children’s Hospital. Her clinical and academic interests align, with a focus on optimizing functional outcomes of NICU graduates through early identification and intervention.

Promoting Parental Wellbeing and Health Equity

Janelle Bainter
Family Leader: Janelle Bainter is the March of Dimes NICU Family Support Coordinator at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center, a role she has had for 13 years. She has a Master’s degree in social work from St. Louis University and is the parent of 3 children, one of whom was born at 28 weeks.

Gaby Cordova Ramos, MD
Content Lead: Dr. Gaby Cordova Ramos is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and a clinical neonatologist at Boston Medical Center. Her research focuses on developing perinatal care innovations to enhance the health and well-being of low-income families with high-risk infants. Dr. Cordova Ramos investigates the impact of social care interventions on critical caregiving practices, including breastfeeding, safe sleep, and skin-to-skin contact, while promoting family engagement in the NICU.

Jim Gray, MD, MS
Clinical Translator: Dr. Jim Gray, Professor of Pediatrics, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, is a board-certified neonatologist. Dr. Gray has extensive experience with the evaluation of neonatal care and the integration of evolving information technologies into the assessment and provision of care.

Deb Sims
Quality Leader: Deb Sims has been participating in VON’s improvement collaboratives for over twenty-five years as both a unit QI coordinator and as faculty for VON. After completing her PhD in 2020, she left the bedside and has been working as an adjunct professor for the University of Providence and as faculty for VON, most recently leading teams in how to include parents in their QI work through training in Experienced-Based Co-Design.

Neuroprotective Lung Strategies

Sheri Carroll, MD
Clinical Translator: Dr. Sheri Carroll is a neonatal perinatal medicine provider at UNC Health Children’s/Novant Health in Wilmington, NC. Dr. Carroll ‘s interest is in quality improvement, and she leads improvement teams at the local, state, and national level.

Erik Jensen, MD, MSCE
Content Lead: Dr. Erik Jensen is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Neonatal and Developmental Medicine) at Stanford University and practices at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. He specializes in neonatal-perinatal medicine with a focus on respiratory diseases and complications in premature infants. His research explores innovative strategies to improve respiratory outcomes, neurodevelopment, and overall care for critically ill newborns. A prolific author and mentor, Dr. Jensen is dedicated to translating cutting-edge research into evidence-based practices that enhance survival and long-term health for vulnerable neonates.

Jan Schriefer, MBA,MSN,DrPH
Quality Leader: Dr. Jan Schriefer is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She is the Director of Quality, Safety and Collaborative Partnerships and an Associate Scholar at the University of Rochester Medical Center Quality Institute and the proud mom of a NICU graduate.

Lelis Vernon
Family Leader: Lelis Vernon is a NICU mother of micropreemie twin boys, born in 2003 with TTTS. With nearly two decades of experience, Lelis has collaborated as a faculty family partner with VON across several homerooms. She is an international speaker, a published author and co-author of several peer-reviewed medical papers and clinical guidelines.

Reducing Pain and Pokes

Mindy Morris DNP, NNP-BC, CNS
Quality Leader: Mindy Morris DNP, NNP-BC, CNS is the coordinator of the Extremely Low Birth Weight Program at CHOC Children’s Hospital in Orange, California. She has worked in the NICU for nearly 30 years as a nurse, a CNS, and an NNP where she has developed a passion and expertise in caring for the ELBW infant.

Amy Nyberg
Family Leader: Amy Nyberg is the parent advisor and March of Dimes NICU Family Support Specialist at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI.

Erick Ridout, MD
Content Lead: Erick Ridout, MD is blessed to be the dad to two amazing kids, granddaddy to one extraordinary grandson, and currently serves the babies, their families, and the caregivers in the Newborn ICU in Southwestern Utah. He passionately believes all patients and care givers deserve to experience care delivery free of harm – a care environment where care must add value to reach the bedside.

Ginny Shaffer
Family Leader: Ginny Shaffer has been a Parent Navigator since 2006. During this time, she reenergized parent volunteer groups, increased parent support offerings every month as well as provide monthly meals. I was privileged to be included in the NICQ collaborative design team for the design and building of our new single-family room NICU. I am honored and thrilled to be a part of our NICU team.

Rebecca J. Vartanian, MD
Clinical Translator: Rebecca J. Vartanian, MD is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine within the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the University of Michigan.

Sharyn Gibbins, NP, PhD
Clinical Translator: Sharyn Gibbins, NP, PhD, is a renowned neonatal healthcare professional with over three decades of experience in neonatal care. Specializing in neonatal pain management, she has dedicated her career to improving outcomes and quality of life for vulnerable newborns and their families. Dr. Gibbins has been a leader in neonatal nursing practice, combining clinical expertise with groundbreaking research to advance pain assessment and intervention strategies.

Laurel Kitto, MSN, RNC-NIC
Quality Leader: Laurel Kitto, MSN, RNC-NIC has been participating in VON collaboratives for over 20 years as a staff nurse, a nurse leader responsible for operations for a large NICU and, more recently, as a VON Quality Leader within the neuroprotective teams. In addition to leadership, she has extensive experience in NICU design and construction, new unit process improvement, natural disaster evacuation and transport team management.

Alexa O’Dell
Family Leader: Alexa O’Dell is a government auditor and is also the mother to 24-week twin girls, who were born in 2006. During the family’s four-month NICU stay, Alexa was aware her surviving daughter’s progress was being monitored as part of improvement work over noise levels in the NICU. Alexa has also served in various faculty roles with VON since 2011 and believes family partner involvement in all phases of the quality improvement process is essential to each team’s success.

Thiviya Selvanathan, MD, PhD
Content Lead: Dr. Thiviya Selvanathan is a pediatric neurologist and clinician scientist at BC Children’s Hospital with specialized training in neonatal neurology. She is also an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia.