Melissa A Pinheiro, BSN, RN, CIC

Melissa’s commitment to HRO principles, specific to preoccupation with failure and sensitivity to operations, is admirable. Her engagement with the front-line team and commitment to going to the Gemba to observe, coach, and reinforce the standards of care in the best interest of our patients. Her partnership is irreplaceable, her expertise invaluable, and her ability to connect with staff and build engagement and momentum around performance improvement is impressive. Melissa is a true patient advocate and ensures a proactive approach to quality and infection prevention through early identification and close-loop communication. In addition to her formal role, Melissa is a true team player and, regardless of what's on her plate, finds a way to lean in and support overall operations when needed, whether that be supporting nurse leader rounding, quality checks, and most recently traversing a dual role between campuses without us every feeling the direct impact here. I want to nominate Melissa as her behaviors represent consistently exceptional leadership.