Dr. Pierce serves as one of the two Patient Safety Specialists for the Center. Over her 30+ year career she has been directly responsible for malpractice and general liability claims, risk management, electronic order sets, infection prevention, medical staff, peer review, customer complaints, patient safety, policies/procedures, accreditation/regulation, and quality. She has held high level positions in hospitals, healthcare systems,  and physician practices in both small and large organizations. Dr. Pierce has been involved with the Malcomb Baldrige Program since 2003 and has served as an examiner and judge in Illinois and Missouri. She has also served as an examiner at the national level and was the Lead Judge for Illinois for a number of years. During this past year, she has been responsible for guiding hospitals through the PSSM attestation work.  Dr. Pierce has a bachelor's in Paralegal Studies, master's degree in Healthcare Risk Management and a doctoral degree in Business Administration. She holds CPHQ, CPHRM, Executive Coaching, Workforce Violence, DEI, LEAN, and CPPS certifications.