Adrianna Nava, PhD, RN, MSN, NAHN, MPA 

Adrianna Nava PhD, MPA, MSN, RN is a Research Scientist at the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Dr. Nava serves the Latino community as President (2021-2024) of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). In this role, she is focused on building the leadership capacity of nurses, with a focus on Latino nurses-who continue to be underrepresented in health care leadership positions across the country. Dr. Nava also serves our nation’s Veterans as the Chief Nurse of Quality and Systems Improvement at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital. Dr. Nava has a MPA’20 from Harvard University; PhD’19 in Nursing and Health Policy from the University of Massachusetts Boston; a MSN’12 in Health Leadership with a health policy focus from the University of Pennsylvania; and a BSN’09 from Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing. She completed a pre-doctoral VA Quality Scholarship (VAQS) fellowship at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in 2019 and the U.S. Latino Leadership Fellowship from Harvard Kennedy School in 2020.

Adrianna professional interests include: health equity, access to primary care and workforce development. For her leadership in advancing Veteran and Latino Health, Dr. Nava has been awarded the 2021 Latina Style Leadership Award; the 2020 U.S. Latino Leadership Fellowship from Harvard Kennedy School; the 2020 Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Award for Excellence in Nursing; the 2017 Outstanding Alumni-Excellence in Leadership Award from OSF Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing; the 2017 NAHN’s 40 under 40 Recognition Award; the 2016-2018 PhD Jonas Nurse Leader Scholar Award; the 2014 Community Education Service Award from AARP-IL; and the 2011 VA Going the Extra Mile Service Award.
 

Sarah Paliani, MPH 

Sarah Paliani is a Senior Health Care Analyst in the Performance Measurement division at NCQA. She provides content and project management leadership over large, complex projects related to the development and evaluation of quality measure initiatives and NCQA programs. Prior to joining NCQA, Sarah supported primary care practices in optimizing electronic health record workflows, transforming care delivery to achieve Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition, and implementing continuous quality improvement processes. She earned a Master’s in Public Health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, with a concentration in Sociomedical Sciences and a certificate in Health Promotion Research and Practice.