Chris joined HSSC as Chief Medical Officer in 2012, and is responsible for shaping the clinical vision and activities of the collaborative. Chris is the principal investigator of the South Carolina Surgical Quality Collaborative, a three-year grant funded by the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation, which is working with eight health systems across the state to improve patient safety and the quality of surgery. She serves on the South Carolina Translational Research Institute Executive Committee and is the clinical champion for healthcare informatics emphasizing HSSC research infrastructure that includes a statewide multi-institutional integrated clinical data warehouse and eIRB platform. Chris is an active leader in the Carolinas Collaborative and leads the governance work across South Carolina and North Carolina, collaborating with colleagues at Duke University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Wake Forest University to improve health and enable multi-state clinical research. Additionally, she is a practicing pediatrician at Palmetto Health Richland.
Chris brings her knowledge of research, health systems, and clinical practice to bear in convening health system leaders, researchers, clinicians, patients, and advocates to advance and support for patient-centered outcomes research. She has more than a decade of experience as a principal investigator on clinical trials and clinical research. Chris played a pivotal role in HSSC being named one of eight recipients of the prestigious 2014 AAMC Learning Health System Champion Research Award, an award that recognized HSSC as a national model.
Prior to joining HSSC, Chris was a Professor and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, General Academic Pediatrics, at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. She was also a Scientist at the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, University of Texas Medical Branch, also in Galveston. Chris earned BS in Biology from the University of South Florida and her MD from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She is board certified in Pediatrics.
