New MOQC Team Members Spotlight
Keli DeVries, LMSW, MOQC Program Manager
Keli DeVries completed both her undergraduate degree and her Masters of Social Work at the University of Michigan. She began her career as a licensed clinical social worker in the Emergency Department at Michigan Medicine, and eventually moved into social work leadership. After 10 years working in the Department of Social Work and the Department of Care Management, Keli became the Call Center Manager for the Frankel Cardiovascular Center at Michigan Medicine. Throughout her career she has been a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion for all populations that access or work within health care. Keli has special interest in the well-being of health care professionals and in burnout prevention, which therefore improves the quality of the patient care provided. She hopes that through her MOQC role she can continue to inspire teams to prioritize patient- and family-centered care above all else.
Beth Rizzo, MPH, Project Manager for MiGHT
Beth completed her undergraduate degree in Health Fitness at Central Michigan University and her Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from Boston University. Throughout her career Beth has focused on chronic disease prevention and early intervention within operational, relationship management, and quality improvement roles in both corporate and non-profit sectors. Most recently Beth worked with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and local health departments throughout southeast Michigan to implement quality improvement efforts promoting improved cancer screening rates and methodologies in addition to managing multiple health equity grant projects around metro-Detroit for the American Cancer Society. As the Clinical Research Project Manager for the MiGHT project Beth is excited to collaborate with internal and external partners to support life-saving cancer research projects through Michigan Medicine and MOQC. Outside of the office Beth’s family is central in her life with any additional free time spent reading, jogging, and getting her hands dirty – in the garden or the pottery studio.
Brian Blaesing, MOQC Intern
Brian Blaesing completed his Associate’s Degree in Broadcast Media Arts at Washtenaw Community College with a concentration on production and engineering. He has been working with MOQC as an intern, focusing his time on the Ovarian Cancer Education Podcast. In his spare time, he produces and records music, exercises and plays a fair share of games (both video and real life). Brian hopes to learn more about how MOQC operates and hopes to meet some practices when in-person work comes back. The picture of Brian is of him playing guitar on a friend’s rooftop in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Lendy Chu, MOQC Intern
Lendy Chu graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor’s in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology and went on to earn her Master’s in Public Health with concentrations in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Human Rights, Social Justice, and Health Equity from the Boston University School of Public Health. Upon graduation, she worked as an epidemiologist at the Institute for Community Health, where she conducted data analysis and program evaluation on community health projects centered around quality improvement and equity. She is currently a second-year medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Lendy is excited to join the MOQC team, where she will be working on her capstone project on improving data collection of race, ethnicity, and language of care across MOQC practices. In her spare time, Lendy enjoys cooking, rollerblading, and working on different arts and crafts projects.
Shea Howe, MOQC Intern
Shea began working with MOQC as a Summer Intern in May of 2020 and returned this year to continue her work with the team. After recently graduating with her Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health from George Washington University, she will begin the Masters of Public Health in Health Policy program at GWU this Fall. While at MOQC, Shea has focused on equity and promoting inclusivity and harm reduction in family health history tools. She is excited to be a part of the MOQC team and supporting its equitable mission to improve cancer care for all Michigan residents. In her free time, Shea loves yoga, going on walks, hiking, and exploring Washington DC’s museums and activities.
