Dr. Ashley V. Parks is an Associate Professor in the Department of Healthcare Leadership and Management at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), where she serves as Division Director for the Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety and Master of Science in Health Informatics programs. She is a healthcare management educator, researcher, and quality improvement leader with more than 20 years of experience spanning healthcare administration, public health, academic leadership, and performance improvement. Her professional experience includes executive leadership roles directing organizational quality and performance improvement, enterprise project management, strategic planning, accreditation, regulatory compliance, and complex healthcare transformation initiatives across diverse healthcare settings. As a Director of Quality and Performance Improvement and leader of a Project Management Office (PMO), she led multidisciplinary teams to improve quality, patient safety, operational performance, and organizational effectiveness. Her experience spans acute care, ambulatory care, managed care, community health, and higher education, with expertise in healthcare quality, patient safety, workforce development, mentorship, and applied learning. She is passionate about preparing future healthcare leaders through student-centered, practice-focused education that integrates quality improvement, informatics, analytics, leadership, and emerging technologies to address complex healthcare challenges.
Dr. Parks has taught undergraduate and graduate courses across the healthcare administration curriculum for more than a decade, including healthcare finance, quality improvement, operations management, organizational leadership, health policy, health information systems, and data-informed decision making. At MUSC, she provides academic leadership for graduate programs in healthcare quality, patient safety, and health informatics while supporting curriculum innovation, student success, faculty scholarship, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her research focuses on healthcare quality improvement, patient safety, workforce development and mentorship, health information technology, telehealth, implementation science, and healthcare access and equity. She has presented nationally through organizations including the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), and the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA). In 2023, she joined William Cleverley and James Cleverley as co-author of the ninth edition of Essentials of Health Care Finance.
Dr. Parks earned her Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) in Health Services Leadership from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and also holds degrees from Georgetown University, the Quantic School of Business and Technology, and California State University, Fresno. She maintains numerous professional certifications, including Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ), Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS), Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (CLSSBB), and Project Management Professional (PMP). Through her teaching, scholarship, and leadership, Dr. Parks is committed to advancing healthcare quality and safety, fostering innovation in graduate education, and mentoring the next generation of healthcare leaders.