Mila Ju, MD, Appointed Director of Quality and Patient Safety for Vascular Surgery

Mila Ju, MD, has been appointed Director of Quality and Patient Safety for the Division of Vascular Surgery at Lehigh Valley Heart and Vascular Institute.

Dr. Ju will work closely with leaders in Lehigh Valley Heart and Vascular Institute and Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence to further patient satisfaction, quality, safety and efficiency. She’ll also work to advance a culture of equity and access to care for the diverse populations served by Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN).

Among her responsibilities will be the direction of LVHN’s participation in the Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI), the demographic, clinical, procedural and outcomes database maintained by the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS). The mission of the VQI and its affiliated patient safety organizations is to improve the quality, safety, effectiveness and cost of vascular health care.

Dr. Ju received her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2005 and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 2009. She completed her vascular surgery integrated residency at Northwestern University in 2016 and joined LVHN that year. During her postgraduate training, she also received her Master of Science in Clinical Investigation from Northwestern and was one of the first American College of Surgeons Scholars in Residence.

Dr. Ju was honored with the Department of Surgery Teacher of the Year Award in 2021 and completed the Executive Certificate in Physician Leadership program from Lehigh University in 2018. She recently was accepted into the prestigious SVS “Leadership Development Program,” a year-long learning and career development course. She is an active and expert vascular surgeon, with experience and proficiency in both open and endovascular surgery. Among her clinical interests are complex endovascular aortic aneurysm repair, carotid stenting from a transcervical approach (TCAR), and both surgical and endovascular approaches to limb salvage in patients with lower extremity peripheral artery disease.

“We’re thrilled to have Dr. Ju in this role,” Ben Jackson, MD, Chief, Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Lehigh Valley Heart and Vascular Institute, says. “She’ll oversee key areas that help make our clinical programs exceptional and advance patient care.”