In this part one of a two-part episode, Sam & Cali meet with healthcare quality experts, Drs. Bela Patel and Charles "Trey" Miller to discuss the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with regards to quality, research, and clinical care within our healthcare systems.

Dr. Bela Patel serves as the Vice Dean Of Healthcare Quality, Division Director Of Critical Care Medicine, Interim Division Director Of Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine, is the Distinguished Teaching Professor Of The University Of Texas System, and Professor Of Medicine at McGovern Medical School.  Charles C. Miller III, PhD serves as the Associate Vice President for Clinical Research and Health Care Quality, Professor of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, is the Associate Dean for Hospital Quality, and Director at the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston.

In this episode Dr. Patel addresses how she and her team of clinical care providers with the Memorial Hermann Hospital System responded to the outbreak of COVID-19.  We go into how she and her team took necessary actions to develop, educate, and implement new standards and protocols, as well as put into action previously created pandemic plans.  Through her leadership, these efforts have led to the continuum of high quality care provided here in Houston.

Dr. Miller provides his expert input with regards to how the field of research has adjusted since the outbreak of COVID-19, and how the development of new research projects will aid in our country's recovery.  Dr. Miller currently oversees the UTHealth task force for coronavirus research, bringing together our institution's leads and research scientists from all six schools within UTHealth.  Today we discuss with him his new role entails, and what we can expect from clinical research moving forward.