Learn more about our Value Institute Learning Center faculty:
Victoria Adams, CSSBB
Vicky is a Senior Performance Improvement Consultant at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC). She actively leads Blackbelt projects throughout the organization, coaches Greenbelt candidates, and serves as an instructor for our training programs. Vicky also consults and supports departments interested in undergoing 5S initiatives.
Vicky began her career at DHMC in Supply Chain, where she held a variety of operations leadership roles, including Supply Supervisor and Operating Room Inventory Coordinator. As a Value Performance Specialist in Supply Chain, Vicky led supply and logistics focused implementation and improvement projects across the institution and also helped to develop others on her team to gain experience in this area. She served as the designated Logistics Chief for the DHMC Incident Command System, where she worked with other DHMC leaders to mitigate, prepare, respond to, and recover from emergency events that significantly impacted hospital operations and services.
Vicky received her Six Sigma Blackbelt Certification from the American Society for Quality. She has also attended many courses to advance her knowledge and skillset in Lean and Six Sigma. She completed her Lean training with the Altarum Group & Valumetrix.
Raquel A. Chase-Kelly, LSSBB
Raquel is a Performance Improvement Consultant at Dartmouth Health (DH). She is leading performance improvement projects, coaching greenbelt candidates, and teaching through the Value Institute.
Prior to joining the performance improvement team, Raquel spent the last 7 years in administration roles of ambulatory operations. Most recently, she was the Director of Ambulatory Operations at New London Hospital. She also managed several surgical sections at DHMC including, but not limited to, Vascular Surgery, Cardiac Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Thoracic Surgery. Raquel was responsible for the strategic and operational activities for each of the clinical sections for which she managed. She also worked as a clinical research coordinator for Vascular Surgery for 2 years prior to moving into operations.
Raquel received her BS in Applied Studies Management from Granite State College and her AS in Business Computer Management from NH Community Technical College. Raquel completed her Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt training at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.
Jason M. Godsell, PT, DPT, SCS
Jason is a Performance Improvement Consultant at Dartmouth Health, joining the Value Institute in 2024. He is supporting the initiatives of the VILC through performance improvement projects, coaching greenbelt candidates and teaching value institute coursework.
Prior to joining the performance improvement team, Jason spent 10 years as a full time physical therapist and eventual Clinical Supervisor in the Department of Rehab at DH. Jason was active in mentoring PT students, achieving the Clinical Instructor Award in 2017 from NECCE and serving as a Lecturer in the Physical Therapy program at Plymouth State University. During his time in Rehab, he worked closely with the Department of Orthopedics leading various improvement work between the two departments. Jason transitioned into ambulatory operations leadership in the Department of Dermatology as the Practice Manager where he was responsible for the operational performance of the department.
Jason received his BS in Biology from Bates College and his Doctorate in Physical Therapy from New York University in 2012. He is a board-certified Sports Physical Therapist through the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. He is currently working towards his Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt training through Moresteam.
Matthew McNally, BSRT, RRT, LSSBB
Matt is a performance improvement consultant at DHMC embedded in nursing/allied health, and actively leads projects throughout the organization.
Matt has spent his entire career in healthcare as a respiratory therapist. After working at a number of academic medical centers in the US, Matt came to DHMC in 2002 initially at DHART as a transport team member, then moved to the respiratory care department, where he served as the department clinical specialist for 12 years. In that role, he led improvement projects in neonatal, pediatric, and adult critical care, onboarded new respiratory staff, and managed the department’s clinical practice developing and implementing policies, procedures, and protocols. Matt also served as a faculty member for the neonatal fellowship program and the anesthesia critical care fellowship program.
Matt received his BS in respiratory therapy from Quinnipiac College and a certificate in health care administration from Franklin Pierce University. He completed his Greenbelt in Continuous Improvement through the DHMC Value Institute and his Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt training with Moresteam.
James J. Perry, OT/L, OTR, CHT, R. NCS. T., LSSBB
Jamie is a Performance Improvement Consultant at DHMC. He is actively involved in coaching Greenbelt candidates, assisting with project execution throughout the organization, and teaching through Value Institute.
Jamie has spent the majority of his career working in healthcare. He began as an EMG Technologist with the department of neurology, where he administered and assisted with the interpretation of nerve conduction studies and electromyography, managed the online patient database, and provided training to residents and staff.
As part of a team of occupational therapists in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, he provided direct patient care on a daily basis for 19 years. He was very active in mentoring staff and students, community outreach, training residents, developing policies, procedures, and performance metrics, and leading improvement projects.
Jamie received his B.S. in Occupational Therapy from the University of New Hampshire. He received his National Board Certification in Occupational Therapy in 2000. He is a Certified Hand Therapist through the Hand Therapy Certification Commission and a Registered Nerve Conduction Studies Technologist through the American Association of Electrodiagnostic Technologists. He completed his Greenbelt in Continuous Improvement through the DHMC Value Institute. Jamie completed his Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt training with Moresteam.
Elizabeth J. Rizzo, MHS, LSSBB
Elizabeth is a Performance Improvement Consultant at DHMC. She actively leads Blackbelt projects throughout the organization, coaches Greenbelt candidates, and serves as an instructor for our training programs.
After ten years in private practice, Elizabeth began her career at DHMC in 2000 in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine as a Pathologists' Assistant. As part of a team, Elizabeth processed surgical pathology specimens, trained residents, managed policies and procedures, assisted with improvement initiatives, and provided leadership for the Gross Room.
Elizabeth received her BS in Biology from Eastern Connecticut State University and her MHS, Pathologists’ Assistant training at Quinnipiac College. Elizabeth received her Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt training at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth.
Samuel Shields, Jr., MBA, MHCDS, CSSBB, CPHQ
Sam is the Vice President of Strategy and Operational Excellence at the DHMC Value Institute. He leads the Operational Excellence team consisting of both Performance Improvement Specialists and Project Managers, oversees the Value Institute Learning Center, coaches Greenbelt Candidates, and serves as an instructor for our training programs. He also serves as an instructor for the Conaty Institute for Transformational Healthcare Leadership program.
Sam spent much of his career working in the supply chain in various industries. He has served in management and leadership roles at Cabot Corporation, Timken, and Labsphere, Inc. He spent three years as the Supply Chain Manager at DHMC before taking a role as the Director of Performance Improvement.
Sam received his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his MBA from Texas A&M University. Sam completed his Master of Health Care Delivery Science at the Tuck School of Business and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI).
Sam received his Six Sigma Blackbelt certification from the American Society for Quality. He is also a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) from the National Association of Healthcare Quality (NAHQ).
Kathleen Stewart, MPH, LSSBB, CIC
Kathleen Stewart is a performance improvement consultant embedded within nursing at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Clinics (DHMC). She supports the department with consultation on performance improvement, research, and analytics; she leads projects; and she coaches and teaches process improvement.
Prior to starting her role in nursing as a performance improvement consultant in 2024, she worked in different positions within Quality Assurance and Safety at DHMC. Initially a program coordinator, her work involved coordination of Hospital-acquired Infection (HAI) programs, improving public flu clinic processes, and policy writing in infection control. She then transitioned into an associate infection preventionist where she led projects, developed new reports, and was responsible for infection surveillance. In February of 2020, she began her role as quality assurance and safety specialist and supported the hospital’s response to the COVID pandemic with teaching, communication, and policy development and later led projects focused on reducing infections. In June of 2022, Kathleen became a performance improvement consultant embedded in infection prevention where she continued to lead projects, act as a consultant to support and lead ongoing work within infection prevention, conduct analyses and research projects, and begin teaching and coaching performance improvement.
Kathleen received her BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester and her MPH from The Dartmouth Institute. She completed her Greenbelt in Continuous Improvement through the DHMC Value Institute and her Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt training with Moresteam. Kathleen is certified in infection control through the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology (CBIC).
Nicole E. Szalay, MHA, LSSMBB, CPHQ
Nicole is the Director of Operational Excellence at DHMC overseeing the organization’s Performance Improvement Team, Project Management Office, and the Value Institute Learning Center. She actively leads projects throughout the hospital, provides consultative support to leaders on strategy deployment, and serves as an instructor for our training programs. She has also served as Program Leader for the Value Institute Learning Center, overseeing the curriculum development and delivery of both our Yellowbelt and Greenbelt training programs. Nicole is a co-author of the book Lean Six Sigma Guide for Improving Healthcare published in 2019 with co-author Danielle M. Potter and Mindstir Media.
Nicole began her career at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois as an Administrative Fellow. During her fellowship, she completed her Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt training and certification. Nicole then managed the patient billing call center, patient registration, and prior authorization departments for the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation’s physician organization. Continued interest in performance improvement work led her to take a Senior Consultant role in Performance Improvement at the University of Minnesota Physicians and then the Director of Operational Excellence role at United Hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she provided performance improvement consultation and expertise for the hospital’s senior leadership team.
Nicole received her BA in Chemistry and Violin Performance from Emory University and her MHA in Healthcare Administration from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health.
Nicole received her Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt training from Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and her Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt certification from The Value Institute at DHMC. Nicole completed her Lean Six Sigma Master Blackbelt with The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business and Moresteam. Nicole is also a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) from the National Association of Healthcare Quality (NAHQ).