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Melissa Braganza, MPH, Deputy Director of QUERI
As the new Deputy Director for VA HSR&D’s Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI), Melissa Braganza, MPH, will support VA’s implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) and related national policy priorities. She will help ensure the alignment of VA national priority goals with the Office of Research & Development (ORD), HSR&D, and QUERI-supported national implementation and evaluation initiatives.
Since 2016, Melissa has served as QUERI’s Scientific Program Manager, where she led several national initiatives with VHA leadership including the systematic prioritization, scientific review, and reporting of national implementation and evaluation impacts related to high-priority VA policies to help fulfill QUERI’s goal of accelerating the implementation of evidence-based practices and policies to improve the health and wellbeing of Veterans. As Deputy Director, Melissa will work directly with VHA Leadership, notably the Chief Strategy and Finance Offices to ensure fulfillment of the Evidence Act and related national policy requirements under the newly formed national VHA Evidence-based Policy Subcommittee. This Subcommittee serves as the principal forum for the office of the Under Secretary for Health for evidence-based policymaking. She also will continue managing all aspects of QUERI peer-review, strategic planning, program communications, and financial planning.
Prior to joining VA in 2016, Melissa led health services research at The Health Management Academy, working with leading U.S. health systems to create a knowledge network and peer learning forum to support best practices in healthcare. Melissa received her Master of Public Health from Washington University in St. Louis and completed a two-year Cancer Research Training fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. She is also a recent graduate of the highly competitive Excellence in Government Fellows Program with the Partnership for Public Service, Washington DC.
