The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has announced the appointment of Kerin Adelson, MD, as the institution’s Chief Quality and Value Officer. An accomplished clinician and researcher with extensive leadership experience in cancer care, Dr. Adelson will also hold a faculty appointment in Breast Medical Oncology.
In her new role, Dr. Adelson will partner with Chief Administrative Quality Officer José Rivera, MBA, to lead MD Anderson’s medical practice quality improvement efforts and value-based care initiatives. She also will be responsible for guiding initiatives aimed at optimizing the cost and quality of patient care and demonstrating value to prospective insurers, with a goal of implementing innovative reimbursement models that increase access to cancer care services across the MD Anderson Cancer Network.
In addition, Dr. Adelson will provide strategic oversight and support for the Institute for Cancer Care Innovation; patient care informatics medical directors; and teams working in clinical effectiveness, tumor registry, and Cancer Network quality improvement. She will collaborate with Mr. Rivera to provide leadership for the Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement council and with Chief Patient Safety Officer Carmen Gonzalez, MD, to provide support for MD Anderson’s Divisional Patient Safety Quality Officers.
Executive Leadership Roles
Since 2014, Dr. Adelson has served as Chief Quality Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital. In her role, she collaborated with physician, nursing, and finance leadership to implement quality and safety programs and to design new programs in care management, apply clinical pathways to ensure use of evidence-based therapies, and introduce co-managed hospitalist services to improve the length of patient stays.
Dr. Adelson’s experience has included overseeing payer relationships for oncology services, multidisciplinary centers for excellence, and direct-to-employer strategies. She led Yale’s participation in the Oncology Care Model, a value-based payment model from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; this model focused on delivering highly coordinated oncology care through better patient navigation, treatment therapies aligned with nationally recognized clinical guidelines, and the use of data to drive continuous quality improvement.
Furthermore, Dr. Adelson oversaw Yale’s participation in both Anthem’s Oncology Medical Home program as well as ASCO’s Patient-Centered Cancer Care Certification pilot—an ambitious program designed to improve oncology care delivery via rigorous standards in advance care planning, symptom management, goal-concordant care communication, care coordination, and clinical treatment pathways.
Dr. Adelson earned her medical degree at Yale School of Medicine and completed her residency and fellowship in New York at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, respectively. She joined Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital in 2014 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. Dr. Adelson also earned a Master’s degree in Health Care Delivery Science from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and Geisel School of Medicine.
