WCHQ News Releases

The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) Board of Directors today named Gabrielle Rude, PhD, successor to President/CEO Chris Queram, effective next January 2021. Queram, who announced he will step aside at the end of the year, has led WCHQ since 2005.

Rude has directed clinical practice transformation at WCHQ for the past four years. Over that time, she has elevated WCHQ’s profile as a partner and leader in quality improvement, helped establish WCHQ as a statewide health care data resource, and designed and implemented novel initiatives to improve health care value.

“We are excited for Gabrielle to step into this position. She will play a key role to ensure WCHQ is relevant to members and engaged in the work to improve health and make health care in our region better, safer and more affordable,” according to WCHQ Board Chair Dave Rushlow, MD, Chair of Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic. “With Chris and Gabrielle’s’ s leadership, WCHQ has grown to include almost all of Wisconsin’s health systems, hundreds of medical clinics and nearly 200 dentists, along with payer organizations and corporate stakeholders. Together with the team at WCHQ, we will strive to continue to have a positive impact on the communities we serve by improving both the quality and value of care we provide.”

Prior to joining WCHQ, Rude was director of quality, decision support and employee wellness at Monroe Clinic where she was responsible for strategic planning and oversight of quality, analytics and wellness for an integrated health system. She also previously worked for the University of Wisconsin and Dean Health Plan.

Rude received her bachelor’s degree in health promotion/wellness and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and master’s and a doctoral degree in population health sciences from the University of Wisconsin. She is a certified professional in health care quality.

"I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with our members to continue to improve the quality and value of health care in Wisconsin. This organization has been on the cutting edge of health care quality improvement and innovation in the state and, over time, we’ve seen the quality of care in this state rank among the best in the nation,” Rude said. “As we help our members find new ways to improve health and the quality of care, we will also work with them to increase the value of health care, which is an economic development asset for our state.  

Queram will continue to lead WCHQ in 2020 while assisting Rude as she transitions to her new role.

WCHQ is a regional member-led consortium comprised of every health system in Wisconsin, 350 medical clinics and five oral health organizations working to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of health care in Wisconsin through the public reporting of comparative performance information.

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