Alexis Elward, MDAlexis Elward, MD, SLCH associate chief medical officer, received a national award for patient safety. The award is the Top-Performing Senior Leader Recognition from Children's Hospitals' Solutions for Patient Safety. SLCH is a member of this non-competitive national collaborative of children’s hospitals.

Member hospitals work to transform pediatric patient safety in pursuit of an urgent mission: to eliminate all serious harm across all children’s hospitals in the United States.

Elward earned the award by being:

  • A catalyst for change
  • Thoughtful about setting teams up for success
  • Relentless in the quest to reduce harm

"Dr. Elward goes to where the work is being done to learn all she can about systems and processes," says Joan Smith, RN, director, Clinical Quality, Safety and Professional Excellence. "She is a natural leader through her ability to inquire and listen so that team members (regardless of role) feel appreciated, heard, and respected – resulting in trusting relationships and teamwork."  

"She is empathetic, not only with patients/families but also with peers and non-peers alike.  She has spent the past year partnering with Peggy Gordin, VP, to implement an organization-wide lean/high-reliability operating system. Her efforts to eliminate preventable harm are endless – whether it’s preventing or responding to events or presenting harm data to our board of trustees, Dr. Elward is always present, participative and empowering."