Current VA Quality Scholars
Emily Breeding, MD
Dr. Emily Breeding is a VUMC general surgery resident and first-year VA Quality Scholar Fellow. She earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Biology and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies from the University of Virginia and completed medical school at Eastern Virginia Medical School. She then started her General Surgery residency training at VUMC where she completed three years prior to entering VAQS. During her time as a VAQS fellow, she will earn her Master in Public Health. Her research focuses on improving outcomes and access to care in oncology and transplantation, including optimizing surveillance protocols for rectal cancer and developing strategies to expand organ availability and transplant access.
Second Year Fellows
Brittany Work, OTD, OTR/L
Brittany Work is an occupational therapist and a second-year VA Quality Scholars Fellow. She has extensive clinical experience working in the intensive care units (ICUs), focusing on early mobilization and activity. Her quality improvement and research interests include integrating occupational therapy into the interprofessional management of ICU patients and survivors, exploring how occupational therapy in the ICU and in ICU recovery clinics may improve patients’ functional independence and quality of life. Brittany earned her Occupational Therapy Doctorate from Belmont University in 2008 and received her Low Vision Rehabilitation Graduate Certificate from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2016. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Kimberli Grace Tipps, MD
Dr. Grace Tipps is a second-year VA Quality Scholars Fellow and Advanced Fellow in Geriatrics as well as an instructor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine at VUMC. She graduated from Grinnell College and earned her medical degree from East Tennessee State University Quillen College of Medicine. She completed an internal medicine residency at Wake Forest University followed by a clinical geriatrics fellowship at Vanderbilt. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Public Health. Her interests lie in improving the care of older adults with geriatric syndromes.
Marissa Kuo, MD
Dr. Marissa Kuo is a second-year VA Quality Scholar Fellow and a VUMC general surgery resident. She received her B.A. in History from the University of Virginia and completed medical school at Emory University School of Medicine prior to starting her general surgery training at VUMC. During her time as a VAQS fellow, she is also working towards obtaining her Masters in Public Health. Her research interests include improving pre and post operative patient education, optimizing operating room workflow, and improving outcomes for veterans with GI malignancies.
Third Year Fellow
Anna Gallion, FNP, DNP
Dr. Anna Gallion is a third-year VA Quality Scholars Fellow and a hospital medicine nurse practitioner, supporting a new hospital-at-home program. She is adjunct faculty at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she served with the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program, assisting in the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials roll-out and served as a nursing home quality improvement advisor. She has developed a unique skillset to engage nurses and advanced practice providers using literature synthesis to guide evidence-based practice change and quality improvement initiatives. Dr. Gallion is interested in focused application of evidence-based practices in clinical settings, quality improvement initiatives aligned with strategic health system priorities, and transitions of care from the hospital setting.