From left: Drs. Wenting Ma, Katie Kanter, Adriano Bellotti, Mary Carter Mullen and Jiayi Hu
More than 700 participants turned out for the 2026 Quality in Care (QIC) Symposium, held June 11, 2026 at the New York Academy of Medicine. Hosted by NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University, the annual event showcases cross-campus research and innovation in quality, safety and patient experience.
This year's symposium featured six quality improvement projects by Department of Anesthesiology residents, and four additional projects authored or mentored by department faculty. Special thanks to Aaron Weinberg, MPA, CSSGB, quality and patient safety administrator and Diego Bauza, MSN, RN, clinical quality and patient safety analyst, for their support throughout the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 academic years and, more recently, thanks to Brandt Cole, quality improvement project coordinator and QI and Shao Ping Yu, senior manager, clinical strategy and operations.
Featured Projects
Enhancing Perioperative Medication Safety Though Intraoperative Barcode Scanning in Operating Rooms
Wenting Ma, MD; Kenya Anderson-Yanchanka, PharmD, MBA, BCSCP; Zachary Worthy; Randy Nguyen; Aaron M. Weinberg, MPA, CSSGB; Patricia Mack, MD, FASA, FACHE
Standardizing Pre-operative Consent for Truncal Blocks in Thoracic Surgery: A Quality Improvement Project
Nicholas R. Wegener, MD; Connor Singrey, MD; Dong Ho Shin, MD; Jiayi Hu, MD; Diego Bauza, MSN, RN; Shelby Badani, MD
Paging Anesthesia: Improving Clinical Communication for Initiating Hospital-Based Airway Consultations
Elyse Kuo, MD; Josiah Sowell, MD; Katie Kanter, MD; Sophia Wu, MD; Eric Sung, MD, PhD; Diego Bauza, MSN; Brandt Cole; Aaron Weinberg, MS; Patricia Mack, MD, FASA
Perioperative management for patients on SGLT-2 inhibitors: A quality improvement initiative
Adriano Bellotti, MD, PhD; Daniel Cho, MD; Taylor Fortson, MD; Sharon Huang, MD; Meredith Kushner, MD; Diego Bauza, MSN, RN; Michelle Tiangco, MS; Aaron Weinberg, MPA, CSSGB; Patricia Fogarty Mack, MD
Reducing Waste Associated With Bloodline Setups
Mary Carter Mullen, MD; Julian Rowe, MD; Dale Tager, MD, MBA; Aaron Weinberg, MPA, CSSGB; Patricia Mack MD; Deirdre C. Kelleher MD
The Joint Commission: Optimizing Preoperative Assessment of Marijuana Use
Victoria Levy, MD; Christopher Lin, MD; Anvesh Macherla, MD; David Kersen, MD; Greta Niemala, MD; Patricia Fogarty Mack MD
Additional Department of Anesthesiology Presentations
Improving the Detection of Exposure to Tobacco and Other Inhaled Agents in Pediatric Preoperative Patients: A Feasibility Trial
Michael D. Green, MD
Collaborative Education and Training to Mitigate Operating Room Fire
Patricia Fogarty Mack, MD, FACHE, FASA; Aaron Weinberg, MPA, CSSGB; Baruch Fertel, MD, MPA, FACEP; Robert Winchell, MD, FACS
Medical Student Mentored Projects
Improving penicillin allergy documentation and management in the perioperative setting: A Quality Improvement Project
Jamie Kim, MS; Zachary Turnbull, MD; James Truong, PharmD; Rebecca Martinez, MD; Eshani Pareek, MBS; Deirdre Kelleher, MD; Harjot K Singh, MD
Optimizing Periprocedural Management of SGLT-2i Medications
Patricia Fogarty Mack, MD, FACHE, FASA; Aaron Weinberg, MPA, CSSGB; Diego Bauza, MSN, RN; Christina Dinapoli, FNB-PC, DNP; Kyra Kwok, BS; Robert Uzzo, MBA; Adriano Bellotti, MD, PhD; Balaji Pandian, MD, MBA