BOSTON, MA –
Ariadne Labs is pleased to announce Amber Weiseth, DNP, MSN, RNC-OB, as the new Director of the Delivery Decisions Initiative (DDI), effective October 1. A doctorally prepared obstetrics nurse with more than 18 years of experience in clinical leadership and quality improvement, Weiseth has served as Associate Director of DDI since 2018.
The Ariadne Labs Delivery Decisions Initiative is a research and social impact program focused on transforming childbirth care around the world so that every person can start or grow their family with dignity. The program focuses on developing solutions that enable all expecting families and those who care for them to make decisions together in ways that are proven to be feasible to implement, effective at improving wellbeing, and financially sustainable.
“Since joining the Delivery Decisions Initiative team in 2018, Amber has been a critical leader in maximizing the scale and spread of our work. Her leadership has brought the TeamBirth project to more than 20 hospitals, with exceedingly impactful results,” said Asaf Bitton, MD, MPH, Executive Director of Ariadne Labs. “With her frontline experience as a labor and delivery nurse, Amber brings an acute understanding of the challenges facing birthing people today and will strive to ensure our work achieves its aim of supporting safety and dignity of families in childbirth and beyond.”
As Director, Dr. Weiseth will provide overall direction for the full portfolio of Ariadne Labs’ Delivery Decisions Initiative. Since its founding in 2013, the program has grown significantly in impact and influence, touching more than 13,000 patient lives in 2020. In 2021, DDI’s TeamBirth project is on track to be implemented at 23 hospitals and collectively involve more than 1,000 clinicians caring for tens of thousands of people giving birth in Michigan, Washington, Oklahoma, and Massachusetts. Under the leadership of Dr. Weiseth, DDI will continue to focus on amplifying the role and voice of the women and birthing people through TeamBirth, expand the measurable impact of nurses in obstetric care and quality improvement and build trustworthy connections between community and health systems.
As the current Interim Director of the DDI team, Dr. Weiseth currently leads the design, measurement, and implementation of TeamBirth, a care process innovation designed to improve the safety and dignity of childbirth. Additionally, she is accountable for program implementation practices, team operations, development, and execution of program strategy and management of project leaders.
Dr. Weiseth’s appointment follows the departure of DDI’s founder, Neel Shah, MD, MPP, who earlier this year stepped down from his role at Ariadne Labs to become Chief Medical Officer of Maven Clinic. Dr. Shah remains as a Senior Advisor to the Delivery Decisions Initiative.
“We are so fortunate to have Dr. Weiseth take over the directorship of the Delivery Decisions Initiative at Ariadne Labs. I have had the pleasure to work with her and have come to appreciate her passion, strategic acumen, and outstanding leadership skills.” said Dr. Evan Benjamin, Chief Medical Officer at Ariadne Labs.
Dr. Weiseth is a Research Scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Prior to joining Ariadne Labs, Amber served as Assistant Director for Maternal-Infant Health Initiatives at the Washington State Hospital Association where she led safety and quality work in the state’s birthing hospitals. While there, she worked to decrease maternal morbidity and mortality in the state through implementation of a maternal early warning trigger system (MEWT) and qualitative blood loss measurement. Prior to that role, Amber worked as a labor & delivery nurse and charge nurse for 14 years at EvergreenHealth, a large community hospital in Washington state, where she cared for thousands of women, birthing families, and their newborns.
“It is a great honor to take on the leadership of the Delivery Decisions Initiative and further the work to build a world in which people can choose to grow their families with dignity,” said Dr. Weiseth. “I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our partners and growing our program by supporting the design, test, and spread of scalable systems-level innovations and best practices across the U.S.”
Amber earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University of Minnesota. She graduated with her MSN from Western Governors University in Healthcare Administration and Nursing Leadership and completed her BSN from Seattle Pacific University.
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About Ariadne Labs:
Ariadne Labs is a joint center for health systems innovation at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. With a mission to save lives and reduce suffering, our vision is that health systems equitably deliver the best possible care for every patient, everywhere, every time. We use human centered design, health systems implementation science, public health expertise, and frontline clinical care experience to design, test and spread scalable systems-level solutions to some of health care’s biggest problems. From developing checklists and conversation guides to fostering international collaborations and establishing global standards of measurement, our work has been accessed in more than 165 countries, touching hundreds of millions of lives. Visit ariadnelabs.org to learn more.
Media Contact:
Brigid Tsai
Email: btsai@ariadnelabs.org