National Quality Improvement Center
Trainings & Resources
Our Charge
The National STD QI Center (NQIC) is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide web-based and hands-on quality improvement (QI) training to Prevention Training Centers (PTCs) and STD public health programs across the nation.
Through the provision of webinar trainings on QI methods and the facilitation of onsite QI events within local clinical practices, we help to build QI capacity among PTCs and their clinical partners to improve STD screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
We additionally administer an intensive Adolescent Sexual Health (ASH) QI Fellowship for public health professionals in CDC-funded state STD programs and PTCs to build more advanced capacity in the facilitation of clinical QI projects nationally.
Our Approach
Teach the basics of Lean and Model
for Improvement QI methods
Identify indicators to
measure improvements
Observe STD care delivery processes and
identify opportunities for improvement
Test improvements
Follow up on clinic improvements and
sustained changes after the event
Our Reach
Our Team
Phone: (510) 620-3185
Email: holly.howard@cdph.ca.gov
Holly Howard, MPH, uses her 20+ years of national/international public health experience in applied epidemiology, intervention design, and program evaluation to inform the innovative direction of the NQIC and the design of new programs. She recently exercised these skills in the development of the NQIC’s Adolescent Sexual Health QI Fellowship for public health professionals. Holly additionally serves as Program Manager for Health Promotion and Healthcare Quality Improvement at the California Department of Public Health’s Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch and is the director of numerous CDC program and evaluation grants.
Phone: (510) 628-6041
Email: ellen.ehlers@ucsf.edu
Phone: (510) 620-3188
Email: jennifer.harmon@cdph.ca.gov