Professor Jill Cawiezell received her doctorate degree from the University of Missouri with a focus on health systems. She is currently funded as the VA Quality Scholars initiative and  as part of the team exploring TeamSTEPPS implementation in critical access hospitals through Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. She has spent many years as a funded researcher for AHRQ. Additionally, she has served as a research consultant to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services guiding organizational capacity building challenges related to quality improvement and patient safety.

Dr. Cawiezell's research interests include patient safety issues related to the organization across health care settings, organizational capacity building for the creation and sustainment of improvement across health care settings, and the challenges of providing health care in resource scarce environments in the developing world.

Dr. Cawiezell is a member of the Academy of Nursing, American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau, and the American Organization of Nurse Executives. Her primary area of nursing practice has been in hospital leadership roles, with clinical experience in the intensive care unit and working with impoverished children in the developing world.