National Staff

Lyle A. Ignace, MD, MPH, Director, IPC

Dr. Lyle Ignace, a member of the Coeur D’Alene Tribe of Northern Idaho, leads the IHS Improving Patient Care program and is committed to ensuring the Indian health system is a highly effective health care organization. Prior to coming to IHS Headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, Dr. Ignace provided comprehensive ambulatory and inpatient acute care for 10 years as the clinical service chief of internal medicine at Gallup Indian Medical Center. A board-certified internist, Ignace is a member of the Association of American Indian Physicians and served on its Executive Board in 2000–2003 and again in 2007–2008. Other memberships include the American College of Physicians and the American Public Health Association, to which he is a constituent of the American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Caucus.

Dr. Ignace received a master’s degree in public health in health care management and policy from the Harvard School of Public Health while completing the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy in 2009–2010. He earned his doctorate in medicine from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in 1996 and completed his internal medicine residency program at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1999. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1992.

Candace Jones, RDH, MPH, Administrative Officer

CAPT Candace Jones of the U.S. Public Health Service manages the budgeting, staffing, contracting, and interagency communications of the Improving Patient Care program. Currently stationed in Albuquerque, CAPT Jones has worked on high-level initiatives for the Indian Health Service—including Health Promotion/Disease Prevention, Behavioral Health, and Chronic Care (now Improving Patient Care—and has served IHS for the past 22 years. In 1998, she was detailed to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for two years to help implement the Oral Health Initiative for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HRSA. Since joining the Public Health Service in 1988, she has served in Anchorage, Albuquerque, and Rockville, Maryland.

CAPT Jones received a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene from the University of Nebraska in 1971 and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan in 1988.

Barbara Vize, M.D., Acting Collaborative Director

Barbara Vize, M.D., will be the Acting Collaborative Director for IPC 4. Dr. Vize graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1990. In 2003, she began working for the Sells Service Unit as an ER physician. Before becoming Deputy Clinical Director I 2009, Dr. Vize was involved in multiple committees working on performance improvement issues. Dr. Vize was acting Clinical Director and an Improving Patient Care (IPC) core team member when IPC was spread throughout the clinic in Sells.

After two years of study with the University of Minnesota, she is looking forward to graduating with a Master's degree in Healthcare Administration in January 2013. Her capstone project for her master's was on reducing readmissions and she initiated a Partnership for Patients collaborative program with the Tohono O'odham Department of Health and Human Services.

For two years, she has served on the National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and is on the ICD-10 Clinical Documentation Improvement sub-committee.

Her primary interest is in improving quality and safety in healthcare American Indians and Alaska Natives by utilizing the IPC model for improvement.

Susan Anderson, MPA, Improvement Advisor

Susan Anderson, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, identifies best practices and how to adopt them, and she conducts analytical and evaluative studies for IPC. Prior to joining the IPC team, Anderson was a program analyst in the IHS Office of Direct Services and Contracting Tribes. She has a background in grant writing and administration, organizational and community development, corporate training, and quality improvement initiatives.

Anderson began her career in Oklahoma and has more than 20 years of experience in program management and leadership. She served as a director in local government, Tribal organizations, behavioral health organizations, and federally funded grant programs. She worked with universities and Tribal colleges, administering undergraduate student medical and recruitment programs. She provided oversight in health care and higher education programs in Indian communities for a nonprofit organization and in the university setting in New Mexico.

Susan Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Central Oklahoma and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma.

Sokenunese Myles, Information Technology Specialist (Data Management)

Sokenunese Myles, a member of the Navajo Nation, develops quality measures and conducts baseline data and aggregate data analysis for the IPC Collaboratives. Myles recommends concepts, methods, and technologies for design and data implementation and provides end user support for the upcoming IPC portal. She brings strong quantitative and analytical skills in IT, RPMS, mathematics, clinical research, and cultural understanding of working with American Indian communities across the country.

Before joining IPC, she was the Resource and Patient Management System (RPMS) site manager and clinical data analyst at the Urban Indian health program at the American Indian Health Services of Chicago. She provided RPMS groundwork, IT processes, and patient workflow on the local level for the outpatient health clinic. Myles also worked for the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the University of Massachusetts Amherst on various research, administrative, and computer technology projects in educational environments.

Myles received her bachelor’s degree at UMass Amherst in 2007 and anticipates pursing her master’s degrees in business administration and public health. A beadwork artist, Myles attends and participates in powwows and cultural events, and she is actively involved with Native communities with volunteering and mentoring programs.

Mavis D. Stephens, Project Management Specialist

Mavis Stephens manages IPC Collaboratives 3 and 4. Stephens brings more than 20 years of dedicated federal service in the areas of health care and office administration, program analysis, project management, patient care coordination, policy, and public health analysis. She’s held various civilian positions, including military personnel status technician at Walter Reed, patient services assistant at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center, patient care coordinator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and, most recently, public health analyst/issues manager in policy at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She began her government career in 1988, serving in the U.S. Army as a medical specialist—active duty and in reserve—at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. She received several medals and awards during her enlistment before her honorable discharge.

Stephens is a member of Blacks in Government and the Association of Professional Women. She also volunteers in various community organizations.

Mavis Stephens received an advanced administrative manager certification from the Performance Institute in 2007 and is currently enrolled at American Public University. She’s received several civilian awards and acknowledgments, including the CDC Diversity Award and NIH Merit Award.