Stanford Surgery Presents at 2025 SMCI Quality Symposium

May 16, 2025

Updated June 11, 2025

This year’s Stanford Medicine Center for Improvement (SMCI) Quality Symposium featured several poster presentations authored by members of Stanford’s Department of Surgery.

Quality Programs Manager Amin Rezai presented SurgIQ: Advancing Surgical Quality - A Cohort-Based Curriculum for Faculty and Staff.

Photo by Tara Ti

Dr. Vicky Khoury, a pediatric infectious diseases fellow, presented “Graduate Medical Education (GME) Well-Being Subcommittee: Addressing Mistreatment.” Stanford Surgery Assistant Education Programs Director Anita Hagan, who was an author on the poster, said, “[I’m] grateful for the opportunity to spotlight our ongoing efforts to support resident well-being.”

General Surgery Resident Dr. Joshua Villarreal presented three posters:

  • “Enhancing Surgical Discharge Communication: Standardizing Instructions and Language-Concordant Care to Reduce Readmissions”

  • “Preventing Avoidable Readmissions: Ensuring High-Quality Discharges & Reducing Readmission Risk”

  • “Barriers to Near Miss Reporting Among Hospital House Staff”

    Photo by Tara Ti

According to the event website, SMCI collaborated with the Resident Safety Council and various Stanford Medicine Improvement Programs “to bring you a comprehensive display of impactful projects.” The symposium was held on Thursday, May 15 in the Li Ka Shing Center’s Berg Hall.

Dr. Joshua Villareal received two awards from the SMCI Quality Symposium comittee for his presentations "Enhancing Surgical Discharge Communication: Standardizing Instructions and Language-Concordant Care to Reduce Readmissions" and "Preventing Avoidable Readmissions: Ensuring High-Quality Discharges & Reducing Readmission Risk."

Media Contact

Rachel Baker
Director of Communications

Bio

As the Director of Communications for Stanford Surgery, Rachel Baker tells the stories of her department's faculty, staff, and trainees. With the help of an amazing team of content creators, she produces and curates original articles, photos, videos, graphics, and even podcasts.She works personally with each division, center, program, and lab within her purview to define their audience and reach their goals while maintaining a consistent brand voice. She hosts quarterly professional development workshops open to all AEM web authors--please email her if you'd like to join! She also offers both 1:1 and group education to faculty and residents on a variety of topics including media training, using social media to advantage, and presentation refinement. Rachel holds a Bachelor's degree in journalism with a focus on photography from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. A transplant from the DC-area, she still misses foliage and argyle but has happily adopted the official NorCal hobbies of visiting wineries, hiking local trails, and eating avocado.

About Stanford Surgery

The Stanford University Department of Surgery is dedicated to inventing the future of surgical care through:

• pioneering cutting-edge research, 
• developing the next generation of leaders, and 
• healing through incomparable surgical skills and compassion. 

To learn more, please visit surgery.stanford.edu

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