Nate Hurle Summit Scholarship

The lean healthcare community thrives because of dedicated leaders who are not only committed to continuous improvement in their own organization but building and strengthening the lean healthcare community. Tenacity, respect for people – particularly those at the frontlines, a willingness to share, and keeping the focus on what matters most are some of the characteristics that foster improvement and personal growth and development.

In his role as Senior Director of Enterprise Continuous Improvement at the Cleveland Clinic, lean healthcare community member Nate Hurle exhibited all of these and more. In the summer of 2021 Nate Hurle passed away unexpectedly. This loss is deeply felt by Nate’s family, friends, co-workers, and the lean healthcare community. In the words of Lisa Yerian, MD, Chief Improvement Officer at Cleveland Clinic, Nate Hurle was an “amazing CI leader, coach, colleague, father and friend. Problem solver extraordinaire. You have changed our world, and you are so very missed!” As an active member of the Catalysis Healthcare Value Network and a regular participant and presenter at the Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit Nate Hurle left an impression on the Catalysis community and all those he met.

It is in his honor that we introduced the annual Nate Hurle Summit Scholarship in 2022 so that we could recognize other impactful continuous improvement leaders in the lean healthcare community who exhibit similar qualities. 

As part of the nomination process, we ask for information on how the candidate exemplifies the qualities of tenacity, respect for people, a willingness to share, and keeping the focus on what matters most and the impact that the nominee has made in their organization and the lean healthcare community. Submissions are then reviewed by members of the Catalysis and Cleveland Clinic teams.