We believe in placing people first. In 2002, Jennifer Powell launched Powell & Associates to support clients in the design and execution of large-scale quality improvement initiatives leading to improved health outcomes systems and communities. In 2014, understanding that people have a natural variety of skill levels, abilities, and experiences, we began working with clients to provide system-level quality improvement using human-centered design (HCD) approaches to solve complex health care challenges. Through our dedicated approach of ensuring quality improvement by creating people-driven outcomes, our result is a system that is more efficient, responsive, engaging and stable in an ever-changing healthcare environment. Check out our list of clients and learn more about HCD on our design consultations page.
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Jen Powell
Jen Powell is a health care system improvement leader with 30 years of experience across a broad domain of health settings. She has facilitated national, regional and community-based learning health networks to achieve better health outcomes while improving the patient and provider experience. With the JSI Research and Training Institute, she led the curriculum design for Delta Center California, an initiative whose goal is to improve behavioral and primary care integration for Californians with serious mental illness and substance abuse issues while addressing systemic racism and elevating the voices of those with lived experience. She has served as IHI faculty to the European Alliance, engaging with NHS Scotland in a country-wide patient access initiative, and the NHS Cambridge University Hospital, designing a Virtual Home Service utilizing improvement methodologies and patient co-production. She has led design initiatives with Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, whose goal is to help build and support sustainable collaborative Learning Health Networks that measurably improve health outcomes in which patients, families, clinicians, and scientists work together and use data for clinical care, improvement, and research.
Jen works with leaders and project teams in all phases of design and implementation, bringing curiosity and structure to align leaders and stakeholders to advance the goals of the Learning Health Network. She has extensive experience in engaging patients and family members in the co-production and co-design of services and approaches.
Jen lives in Asheville, North Carolina. She is an avid outdoor enthusiast and engaged in a number of community efforts to enable a more just and sustainable community.
Community Engagement Specialist
Amy Ohmer
Amy Ohmer is the mother and caregiver of two college-age daughters who were diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) at very young ages. As a result of the first diagnosis in 2006, Amy became a patient/caregiver voice in pediatrics, advocating for better treatment and care while focusing on a cure for T1D.
Amy specializes in creating collaboration through patient-centered care by focusing on the needs of patients/families as a consultant within research and medical communities. Amy’s efforts include engaging the parent and young adult voice in support of positive psycho-social needs, as well as community building for adolescents, providers, clinicians, and caregivers.
She is an active advocate for research leading to better T1D outcomes through co-design within T1D Exchange and the University of Michigan Patient Family Advisory Council (PFAC); by providing advising support within the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Caswell Diabetes Institute, State of Michigan Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition (DPAC), American Board of Medical Specialities (ABMS) Stakeholders, and C3 work groups; and as a speaker. Amy is a recipient of the Sally Joy Award, the T1D Exchange Parent Advisor Award, and has collaborated on multiple patient viewpoint articles in journals and news magazines such as National Geographic and BridgeMI. With a BA from Michigan State University in Advertising, Communications Arts and Science, Amy brings a passion for engaging audiences through offering open communication by utilizing social networks, technology, and marketing to strengthen the overall diabetes community.
Selected Client List
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Board of Medical Specialties
Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
JSI Research and Training Institute
Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Faculty, European Alliance
Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Aligning Forces for Quality Initiative
University of Cincinnati Health System
University of Michigan Health System
Content Areas:
Pediatric: ADHD, Asthma, Childhood Cancer Networks, Early Childhood Development, Mental Health Access, Renal Disease, Type 1 Diabetes, Trauma/ Resilient Practice Environments
Adult: Behavioral Health/Primary Care Integration, Epilepsy, Pancreas Cancer, Virtual (Hospital) Home Services
System: Anti-Racism Practices, Access & Efficiency, Health Disparities, Learning Health Networks, Population Health
“Jen is a brilliant strategist, with a deep understanding of the challenges facing healthcare systems, and has a very practical, hands-on approach to designing and implementing patient-centric solutions to improve care delivery. Her ability to combine strategic thinking with tactical execution makes her an effective solution-driven expert. At UC Health, she facilitated critical brainstorming sessions with top executives to identify goals for a Neurology Learning Healthcare System. She converted such goals into a step-by-step approach to co-designing — testing, and spreading, with clinicians, researchers and patients — a portfolio of innovative clinical interventions to improve epilepsy care. Her natural ability to empathize with others allows her to excel at facilitating design sessions with all care partners, including patients and their families, and be inclusive of all voices and lived experiences. ”
“I have had the pleasure to know and work with Amy since 2019 through her role with the International Children’s Advisory Network (iCAN). My experience working with Amy has been collaborative and very positive. Most notably she has a true gift in her ability to empathize with families and translate difficult, hard-to-understand medical concepts to further comfort and educate medically complex youths. Her ability to listen, engage stakeholders, create a collaborative/safe space, and formulate solutions is a true asset in building and expanding knowledge to impact pediatric patients and their families.”