New Jersey Medical School has a new Patient Safety Officer
Barbara
J. Lopez, PA-C, has been appointed to the position of Patient Safety Officer
at NJMS. As
Patient Safety Officer, Lopez, a licensed physician assistant, is responsible
for ensuring the safe delivery of care to patients visiting NJMS faculty
practices.
Prior to assuming her new role, Lopez worked as a Quality Improvement Specialist in the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Office of NJMS. She is the former chief physician assistant at the UMDNJ-University Hospital.
"We are one of a few medical schools in the nation with a patient safety officer dedicated to our faculty practices and involved in medical student education and outreach," said Vincent Barba, MD, FACP, FHM, medical director for quality improvement at NJMS and the UMDNJ-University Hospital.
This Mine Hill resident, which is located in Morris County, enjoys designing jewelry in her spare time, Lopez is a 1995 graduate of Bayley Seton Physician Assistant Program in New York City. She currently serves as Vice President of the New Jersey chapter of the Society of Hospital Medicine and is a member of the SHM national Hospital Quality and Patient Safety Committee and national Non-Physician Provider Committee. Lopez also was recently elected as member at large to the New Jersey State Society of Physician Assistants.