New innovation fellows working to improve Veteran health care

Eight VA employees are joining the newest cohort of VHA Innovation Ecosystem fellows this year. Fellows receive resources from the Innovation Ecosystem to further develop or expand their projects that improve Veteran health care and VA employees’ experience.

VHA Innovation Ecosystem Fellowships are a unique opportunity for VA employees to become catalytic leaders across the organization. These employees will spend a year gaining the experience and skills necessary to make a significant contribution to VA.

Last year’s cohort of fellows have made notable improvements to the Veteran experience.

The 2023 senior innovation fellow, Melissa Tran, works at Orlando VA. She used her fellowship year to expand access to reproductive health and perinatal services to Veterans through PREPARe and hosted VA’s first ever Maternal Health Summit.

The 2023 entrepreneur in residence fellow, Dr. Priya Joshi, works at San Francisco VA. She addressed food insecurity through over 85,000 grocery deliveries to 2,500 Veterans and their families with Food Share.

This year saw a marked increase in the number of applications for the fellowship program, with more than double the number of employees who applied.

“We witnessed an enormous amount of interest in fellowships this year,” said Suzanne Shirley, director of Fellowships for VA IE. “That increase wasn’t just in application numbers but in the diversity of applicants. Employees from all over the country, from a variety of backgrounds and professions, are pursuing this opportunity to expand their impact and grow in their careers.”

Introducing the 2024 fellows

Senior innovation fellows:

• Mary Julius is the quality manager for the National VA-DOD Virtual Diabetes Self-Management Education Program and program coordinator for Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support at Northeast Ohio VA.
• Dr. Rona Relova is a research health scientist at Palo Alto VA. She will be expanding the Pharmacogenomics Initiative, a clinical program that enables the use of a Veteran’s pharmacogenomic profile to assist with medication management.
• Nichol Salvo is chief of Podiatry and program director of Limb Preservation at Atlanta VA. His mission is to provide basic foot care to patients at increased risk for amputation, improve access and timeliness of care and prevent amputation in Veterans.

Entrepreneurs in residence:

• Dr. Kevin Carroll is a clinical neuropsychologist at Northern California VA. His project will be testing, developing and improving his existing Virtual Rehabilitation Game for use by Veterans in acute, outpatient and home settings.
• Dr. Jay Gorman is a clinical research psychologist in the VISN 1 New England Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) and director of the Social Reintegration Research Program at the VA Bedford Healthcare System. He will be spreading awareness of the need for increased social reintegration services and programs.
• Lori Murphy is the Caregiver Support Program senior social worker at Central Ohio VA and has led Compassionate Contact Corps since 2020, an innovative approach to combating Veteran loneliness and social isolation.
• Elizabeth Dinges and Minh Ho will be partnering to spread harm reduction supplies and services to more VA facilities while ensuring Veterans who use drugs are incorporated into VA care models and decisions.

You can learn more about the Fellowships program and the newest cohort of Fellows here.  

Want to learn more about innovation at VA? View the 2023 State of Innovation Report, visit our website, subscribe to our weekly newsletter, and visit VA Pathfinder to learn more about our opportunities.