Patricia Zrelak is a Quality & Safety Improvement Consultant and Regional Stroke Program Manager for Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Dr. Patricia Zrelak is a nationally recognized nurse leader, epidemiologist, and health services researcher whose career has advanced health policy, patient safety, and evidence-based practice through innovation, scholarship, and interdisciplinary collaboration. As the former co-clinical lead for the maintenance and validation of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Quality Indicators, Dr. Zrelak helped pioneer harm-based weighting methods for patient safety composite measures now used in federal programs, such as the CMS Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program. Her work has contributed to measurable improvements in patient outcomes and reductions in preventable harm and healthcare costs. She has also promoted evidence-based practice as Founding Managing Editor of the International Journal of Critical Care, Associate Editor for The Permanente Journal, and lead author of national clinical guidelines. As Regional Stroke Program Manager, she oversees stroke care for over five million patients, leading quality improvement initiatives and research to address disparities and set new standards in acute stroke care. Dr. Zrelak earned her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of California, Davis; MS in Health Science from San Francisco State University; and BSN from California State University, Sacramento.