Coordinating Center Team

Dr. Friese received his undergraduate, masters, and PhD in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cancer Outcomes Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard University. In July 2008, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, with an adjacent clinical practice in inpatient hematology/oncology at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center.

Dr. Friese’s research interests focus on measuring and improving the quality of cancer care through patient and clinician surveys, intervention and practical implementation approaches.  He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and in 2021 was appointed by the President of the United States to a six-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board.

Dr. Mackler received her PharmD from Drake University and completed her Residency experience in Pharmacy Practice and Oncology at the University Hospital in Cincinnati, OH. She joined Michigan Medicine in 2002 as a Clinical Oncology Pharmacist. She founded the Oncology Specialty Residency at the University of Michigan in 2003 and was the program director until 2013. She has been involved in multiple oncology quality and safety endeavors including serving as the co-lead and founding developer of the NCCN Chemotherapy Order Templates since its inception in 2006, founding pharmacist in the Cancer Center Symptom Management and Supportive Care Program at the University of Michigan 2009 – 2012, founding director of the University of Michigan Oral Chemotherapy Program in 2012 and thereafter MOQC’s Oral Oncolytic Program in 2013, and Course Director of the Michigan Society of Hematology Oncology (MSHO) Annual Pharmacist’s Meeting since inception in 2013. HOPA representative for the National Quality Forum since 2017, and Task Force Chair for the HOPA Quality Oversight Task Force since 2018.

Dr. Mackler’s research and practice interests focus on oncology symptom management, quality of care, chemotherapy safety, medication adherence and patient reported outcomes.

Dr. Uppal received his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. He graduated from his residency program at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and went on to complete his fellowship training in gynecologic oncology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. He joined the faculty of the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor in 2014. Dr. Uppal’s areas of expertise include minimally invasive surgeries with a focus on sentinel lymph node dissection, robotic surgery as well as single-port laparoscopic surgery to improve surgical outcomes.

Dr. Uppal’s research program focuses on patient-centered, evidence-based care. In particular, he has published numerous high-quality publications on quality of care in gynecologic cancers. Most recently, his research has focused on reducing surgical site infections and readmissions after complex oncologic procedures for women with ovarian.

Keli (pronouns: she/her) started her career as a social worker in the Emergency Department. She became a social work supervisor and interim manager before transitioning to become a call center manager. She continues to maintain her social work license and uses that background in everything she does.

Keli joined MOQC when she got to a point in her career where the thing she cared most about was working with people she could trust towards shared goals with a collective vision, to help people in some meaningful way. She looked around and found that MOQC fit that criteria best! Every day she is grateful to have found this team. Her favorite part, now that she has found MOQC, is connecting with people, whether it’s the coordinating center team, POQC members, or practices. She loves hearing about what MOQC is doing that benefits people, and about what can still be done to improve.

In her spare time, Keli loves being outside, spending time with family, and eating delicious food.

Vanessa (pronouns: she/her) has a film degree from the University of Michigan. She also had over six years of experience working with gynecologic oncology at Michigan Medicine before her move to MOQC. She plans to use her strong connection with and passion for quality improvement that she developed in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology to continue improving patient care in the realm of gynecologic oncology.

Vanessa’s favorite part of working at MOQC is facilitating for MOQC’s Patient and Caregiver Council. She finds that the connection piece of working with such a variety of people brings her joy. She uses her creative side to enhance MOQC’s media presence. She is a member of the Marketing and Website Committee and the Maximize Value Committee.

When Vanessa isn’t working at MOQC, she practices and teaches yoga, knits, and cuddles with her two cats.

Heather (pronouns: she/her) has been a Registered Nurse for over 30 years, with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Madonna University and a Post Bachelor Certificate in Cancer Information Management from Ferris State University. The majority of her clinical experience was in the operating room, in various roles, including Nurse Educator. She was also involved in quality improvement as a Clinical Data Abstractor for the Michigan Arthroplasty Registry Collaborative Quality Initiative (MARCQI) and the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative (MSQC).

Heather joined MOQC to continue her work with quality initiatives to improve outcomes in patient care. She’s a member of MOQC’s Centering Equity Committee and has been an intrinsic part of the team focused around the creation of MOQC’s new database, MOQCLink. Her favorite part of working with the MOQC team is the shared goal of improving the quality of cancer care in Michigan, with patients and their families as the primary main focus. Improving patient care has always been very important to Heather.

In her spare time, Heather enjoys the company of family and friends, as well as running marathons and half marathons. She loves nature and the outdoors so she often goes hiking. In the winter months, she cross country skis and snowshoes.

Dave (pronouns: he/his) graduated from California State Polytechnic University with a degree in Business Administration. After a successful twenty-year career in the publishing industry as a National Accounts Manager and Director of Sales, he decided to take his career in a new direction and joined the University of Michigan. Prior to becoming MOQC’s Administrative Specialist, he was the Administrative Assistant Senior to the Medical Director and Clinical Team at the University’s Health Service.

Dave joined MOQC because it was a great opportunity to take on more responsibilities as an Administrative Specialist and to help the MOQC team continue to make a positive impact in improving patient healthcare. In addition to taking care of the many administration responsibilities at MOQC, Dave is also a member of the MOQC Culture Committee. He prides himself on making sure the behind-the-scenes world of quality improvement is taken care of, so that his MOQC peers can focus on what they do best to make MOQC the best that it can be.

In his off-MOQC hours, Dave enjoys watching and playing sports, traveling, spending time with his wife and stepchildren, VW buses, his Jeep, making people smile and laugh, and hanging out at the beach on a warm and sunny day.

Ashley (pronouns: she/her) started her career as a Registered Dietitian at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, working with patients in oncology, surgery, and intensive care services. Ashley continued her work in clinical nutrition, research and quality improvement with the Lurie Children’s and Northwestern University Cystic Fibrosis Center, where she also received certification as a Health Coach. After nearly five years in that role, she moved into a leadership position working as Clinical Nutrition Manager for the Lurie Children’s Department of Clinical Nutrition. In 2018, Ashley and her family relocated to Ann Arbor where she became a Clinical Nutrition Services Manager at Michigan Medicine.

Ashley was excited to join MOQC to advance quality initiatives that will make a positive impact on patient- and family-centered care. She leads MOQC’s Maximize Value Committee, and is a member of the PROs Task Force, and the Marketing & Website Committee. She also facilitates the POQC Patient and Caregiver Resources Workgroup. Her favorite part of working with MOQC is working with a team that truly embodies its’ core values of trust, integrity, compassion, collaboration and growth mindset.

During non-MOQC time, Ashley loves exploring the world through her toddler’s eyes, cooking, reading and spending time with her family, including her goldendoodle Jack.

Kleo (pronouns: she/her) was employed at Ascension St. John’s Van Elslander Cancer Center as a Clinical Data Analyst abstracting data for patients diagnosed with lymphoma. Prior to that, she was a Research Assistant at Wayne State University for 18 years investigating prostate cancer and fetal paternal alcohol syndrome in the Departments of Pathology and Gynecology.

She was already abstracting the hematology and oncology data for the practice she worked for prior to joining MOQC, and she thought it would be really amazing to do that for multiple practices across the state. The concept of working at a collaborative entity was new and exciting, so she joined MOQC. Kleo leads MOQC’s Culture Committee and is a member of the Generate Trusted Data Committee. She loves knowing that what she does is helping practices do something better for patients diagnosed with cancer and their families. She thrives when she is communicating with practice administrators, nurses, physicians, and staff, or problem solving with her MOQC team.

In her off-MOQC hours, Kleo is a soccer mom. She also loves good food (and being a critic about it), and spending quality family time in Greece.

Manlan (pronouns: she/her) graduated from Beijing Normal University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. She taught college math for 6 years in China before coming to the University of Michigan to pursue a master’s degree in statistics. After working in various industries as a data scientist, she returned to University of Michigan for her career. At Michigan Medicine, she gets to explore the complexity of healthcare and apply her skills to help improve patient care.

What she likes about MOQC is the patient-centered approach. As the world is increasingly wired in, human beings are longing for more human touch. As the data manager at MOQC, Manlan is the Jane of all trades in terms of data. Her favorite part of working for the MOQC team is knowing that her technical skills are used to improve patients’ quality of life. Her interests are in helping the world to become a more human-centered place for everyone.

When she is not wrangling data, Manlan likes to get her hands dirty in her garden or in a wood shop. She also likes to travel the globe and has been to two hemispheres, five continents, and many countries. She speaks two languages fluently and the basics of three other languages.

Faith (pronouns: she/her) completed her Dietetic Internship with Michigan Medicine in 2018. From there, she worked as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in a rehab, acute care (with Michigan Medicine), and long term care. She obtained a certification in nutrition support in 2020. Her interests in leadership and education opportunities led her to work towards her Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration.

Faith joined MOQC to conduct a capstone project to finish out that Master’s Degree. She hopes to gain hands on experience with quality improvement and project management. Primarily, she is working on a nutrition related initiative to bring nutritional resources to low-income patients with cancer. Her favorite thing about the MOQC team is how incredibly welcoming and kind they have been from the start!

When not working with MOQC, Faith can be found cooking a new recipe, taking a spin class on her stationary bike, or hanging on the floor with her baby and dog. She and her husband go outside daily with the family to enjoy fresh air and spend a lot of time in Ann Arbor’s green nature preserves.

Cindy (pronouns: she/her) had 10 years of experience working with oncology in cancer center, pharmacy & specialty pharmacy at Michigan Medicine before joining MOQC. She also has years of experience as a lead data abstractor with the MOQC team.

Cindy joined MOQC to use and grow her data analytics & data abstraction knowledge. She wanted to help grow the abstraction team to better serve MQOC practices. She serves on MOQC’s Marketing and Website Committee and the Generate Trusted Data Committee. Her favorite part of being a MOQC-ite is working with her co-workers. They feel like family, and she knows that the whole team is doing their part to help the future of cancer care.

During non-MOQC time, Cindy enjoys hiking, running, kayaking, mountain biking, traveling & playing with her Rhodesian Ridgeback, Tucker.

Ermili (pronouns: he/his) graduated from Wayne State University with a BS in Radiation Therapy in 2012. He has been working in the medical field since 2005. He started his career as a radiology assistant at St. Mary Mercy Hospital from 2005 to 2014. In 2014, he transferred to St. Joseph Mercy in Ann Arbor as a Clinical Cancer Research Coordinator until 2020. He worked in clinical trials with NCI and commercial sponsor to get treatment access to adult patients with all cancerous diseases site. He really enjoyed helping his patients with investigational treatments for their cancer to extending their life and quality.

In 2016, Ermili started working part time for MOQC as a Data Abstractor. In 2020, he decided to join the team full time. He is a member of the Generate Trusted Data Committee and his favorite part about working for MOQC is his colleagues, who are very knowledgeable, trusting and good communicators who strive to uphold MOQC’s core values.

Ermili likes playing soccer, basketball & volleyball. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends.

Beth (pronouns: she/her) has focused her professional efforts on improving the health and wellness of various communities through disease prevention and early intervention approaches across diverse settings. Leveraging her exercise physiology and public health background, Beth served southeastern Michigan communities through cross-generational wellness programming and environmental stewardship projects. Yearning to expand her career, Beth joined corporate America, developing and integrating workplace wellness programming with organizations across the United States before returning to the non-profit arena at the American Cancer Society of Michigan where she spent her time engaging local health care centers in quality improvement efforts related to cancer prevention and early intervention.

Beth was drawn to MOQC because it focuses on quality healthcare for those in the throes of cancer’s chronic and often life-stealing grasp. More specifically, she was drawn to the emphasis on patient-centeredness and serving the community which serves and harbors cancer patients. MOQC meets Beth’s public health drive with a methodical quality improvement approach. At MOQC, Beth focuses her efforts on the research projects like the MiGHT project, and she is a member of the Centering Equity Workgroup and Equity Task Force.

In Beth’s spare time, she enjoys laughing with her son and husband, time in the pottery studio, and reading.

Heather (pronouns: she/her) became a RHIT (Registered Health Information Technician) in 2013 and worked in a Medical Records department for 15 years. She became a CTR (Certified Tumor Registrar) in 2019 and worked in a Tumor Registry Department for 5 years before coming to MOQC.

Heather’s family has been affected by cancer, as have most families, and that led her to MOQC. Though she does not have direct contact with patients, behind the scenes she is proud to be measuring and working to improve the quality of care that will affect outcomes for cancer patients across the state. She also chose to join MOQC because she immediately felt at home with all of the MOQC team members. She is a member of MOQC’s Generate Trusted Data Committee, and her favorite part of working for the MOQC team are the team members. From the top to the bottom, everyone is compassionate, caring, and willing to pitch in to help a team member. She loves that MOQC is truly a family!

In her spare time, Heather enjoys spending time with family. She loves watching her daughter play sports (volleyball, basketball, softball and travel softball). Heather also enjoys camping when time permits.

Mariem (pronouns: she/her) has held various roles in hospital administration. Prior to joining MOQC, she served as the Finance Manager of a rural hospital in Kansas. She has also served as a Supply Chain Manager, and she has a strong background in leadership development.

Mariem joined MOQC because she is passionate about her work in healthcare. She co-leads the Centering Equity Committee, acts as lead MOQC-facilitator for POQC’s BVOGUE (Black Voices on Gynecologic Cancer: Understanding Experiences) Workgroup, and as a member of the Marketing & Website Committee. Mariem personally aligns with MOQC’s core values. She finds working on a team that continues to drive and center those values very energizing.

Mariem enjoys traveling the world. She especially enjoys traveling to Mexico to visit her family.

Natalia (pronouns: she/her) came to MOQC from C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital where she served as a Program Manager for Partners for Children, a community-based pediatric palliative care program for children with chronic complex conditions. In addition to running the program, she participated in the design and implementation of the NICU-based initiative for babies born with medical complexities, Little Victors League. Throughout her career, she managed numerous programs, grants, and contracts with a focus on healthcare research, international development, higher education, and social enterprises.

Natalia has always been drawn to initiatives that yield high positive impact on people’s lives, especially during their most trying and vulnerable times. She is excited about bringing a patient-centered mindset, creativity, strong communication, and a focus on collaboration to MOQC. In addition to her project manager responsibilities, she also leads the Palliative Care and End-of-Life Task Force and is a member of the Culture Committee. She also facilitates the POQC Financial Navigation Workgroup. She loves learning from her team members; each MOQC-ite has a unique skillset, background, ideas, and stories to tell.

In her spare time, Natalia enjoys spending time with her family, traveling the world, hiking, cooking, reading, and learning by experiencing new things.

Deborah (pronouns: she/her) worked as a Data Abstractor for Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative (MBSC) for over 15 years. She also worked in volunteer management at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), United Way of Southeastern Michigan and Boy Scouts of America.

She joined MOQC because she wanted to continue to do her part to improve patient outcomes and quality of care. Her career goals have always centered around working to improve the lives of others. One take away from her years at the Boy Scouts of America was to leave a place better than she found it and it is her hope that her contributions at MOQC will make oncology care better for all. Deborah is a member of MOQC’s Centering Equity Committee and is one of the co-Equity Champions for MOQC. The support she has received from all of her team members has been amazing and her favorite part of working for MOQC!

During non-MOQC time, Deborah enjoy spending time with family and friends, travelling, and fishing. She’s looking forward to having her first vegetable garden next summer.

Robin (pronouns: she/her) received her Bachelor’s of Science in Packaging from Michigan State where she worked for 3 years as a Packaging Engineer in the consumer goods industry before deciding to change career path. She decided to go back to school to earn Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health degrees to work within the healthcare system. She is also a member of the Patient Advisor for the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Patient and Family Advisory Council at the Office of Patient Experience for University of Michigan Health. Robin has worked on several patient quality and engagement initiatives for the AYAs being treated at Michigan Medicine in both the Rogel Cancer Center and C.S. Mott Children and Women’s Hospital.

Robin joined MOQC because of her personal experience with cancer. She was previously diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma and has been in remission for over 6 years. She is a member of MOQC’s Culture Committee, and she attends and helps with the POQC Recruitment and Retention Workgroup, and the Patient Reported Outcomes program. Her favorite part of working for MOQC is her team members and the relationships they’ve created with the practices as well as the members of POQC. Everyone is so welcoming, kind and open to new ideas/perspectives. She is constantly learning and growing professionally from being a part of the team. The dedication and passion that POQC members bring to each meeting and taskforce is inspiring and uplifting.

Robin enjoys hiking with her partner and her little rescue mutt, Poppy. She also enjoys painting, needlepointing, gardening, and trying to get her cat, Fig, to cuddle.

Shayna (pronouns: she/her) was a research coordinator in infectious diseases where she studied drug-resistant organisms and C. diff prior to coming to MOQC. She has always had an interest in healthcare, which led her to get a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology.

She was excited to join MOQC because it was a team that works to make a positive difference in the lives of patients and providers. Cancer has touched nearly everyone in some way, and she wanted to help make a difference. Shayna is a lead coordinator for MOQC’s MiGHT project, she co-leads the PROs Task Force, and she leads MOQC’s Centering Equity Committee. Her favorite part of working for MOQC is collaborating with the team and feeling like they’re working toward positive change.

In off-MOQC hours, Shayna loves spending time with her family, baking, traveling, reading, and trying new restaurants.