Heather Limper Himelhoch

Healthcare Leader | PhD-Trained Scientist Applying Research to Drive Innovation, Outcomes & Scale

United States

About

Executive leader and health services researcher with deep expertise in achieving measurable outcomes through the design, implementation, and evaluation of innovative solutions. Specialized in the application of improvement and implementation sciences to drive meaningful, quantifiable transformation in complex systems. Proven ability to lead high-performing teams, cultivate a culture of continuous learning, and translate innovation into sustained impact.

Experience

  • Health System Executive Director, Implementation Strategies at UChicago Medicine
    Feb 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 5 mos

    • Responsible for designing scalable approaches to empower teams to implement, spread, and learn from innovations designed to improve health and healthcare delivery • Lead the adoption and implementation of digital health solutions across the health system • Provide executive leadership over the Simulation Center, bringing simulation further into the operational enterprise as an implementation strategy to improve safe delivery of effective care through high fidelity training • Established and oversee the Center for Acceleration & Implementation Science. https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/research/center-for-acceleration-and-implementation-science • Lead a $1.5M contract with Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute to build capabilities for rapid improvement across the health system • Lead the evaluation of implementations on financial, operational, and clinical outcomes

  • President and Founder at Pragmatic Evaluation & Design Specialists, Inc.
    Jan 2020 - Present · 6 yrs 6 mos

  • Northwestern Medicine (Chicago, Illinois, United States · Hybrid)
    • Research Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Social Sciences
      Sep 2020 - Feb 2022 · 1 yr 6 mos

    • System Director, Quality Innovation Center
      Sep 2020 - Feb 2022 · 1 yr 6 mos

      • Led a system-wide center dedicated to implementing innovations intended to improve the quality and safety of care across the health system. • Served as a liaison between health services research teams at the University and operational leadership at the hospital to accelerate implementation research while designing for sustainability across topics including patient-reported outcomes, shared decision making, and AI-enhanced clinical decision-making tools.

  • Director of Implementation Science at Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network
    Jul 2019 - Sep 2020 · 1 yr 3 mos

    • Developed a research portfolio focused on application of implementation science to healthcare outcomes while serving as a leader as Assistant Director of Operations for the Center for Clinical Quality & Implementation Research, Associate Director of the Implementation Science Core, and Director of Evaluation for the Midsouth PTN. • Established an implementation science team embedded in the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network that brought strategic implementation and pragmatic measurement to initiatives targeting healthcare delivery improvement across over 300 ambulatory practices.

  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center (4 yrs 2 mos)
    • Research Assistant Professor of Medicine
      Aug 2016 - Sep 2020 · 4 yrs 2 mos

      Health services researcher focused on implementation and improvement sciences in the Department of Medicine and Institute for Medicine & Public Health. Course director for "Measurement and Analysis in Healthcare Improvement" for the Masters in Public Health program.

    • Director of Evaluation, MidSouth Practice Transformation Network
      Aug 2016 - Sep 2019 · 3 yrs 2 mos

      Director of Evaluation for the MidSouth Practice Transformation Network (PTN), a partnership between the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the Safety Net Consortium of Middle Tennessee. The MidSouth PTN engages clinicians across Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Arkansas in the process of transformation with the overall goal of providing patients with higher quality care and better clinical outcomes at lower cost through the CMS Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI).

    • Assistant Director Of Operations, Center for Clinical Quality and Implementation Research
      Jan 2018 - Jul 2019 · 1 yr 7 mos