The Department of Urology is pleased to share that Dr. Marc Bjurlin, Professor of Urology, Vice Chair of Research and Director of Clinical Trials, has been selected for the 2026–2027 Improvement Scholars Program (ISP), a highly competitive, year-long leadership development program at UNC.
Dr. Bjurlin was selected based on the strength of his proposal, Protocol-driven smoking cessation support, which focuses on improving the delivery of smoking cessation interventions among patients with bladder cancer. His project addresses a critical gap in care by leveraging high-frequency clinical encounters, such as intravesical treatments and surveillance cystoscopies, to provide consistent, protocol-driven support for smoking cessation.
This work builds on Dr. Bjurlin’s internationally recognized contributions in the area of smoking and bladder cancer, further advancing efforts to improve patient outcomes through evidence-based, system-level
interventions.
About the Improvement Scholars Program
The Improvement Scholars Program is a structured, 12-month experiential learning program for clinicians across the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health. Run by the UNC Institute for Healthcare Quality Improvement (IHQI), the program selects a small number of projects each year through a competitive process to develop physician leaders in healthcare quality improvement.
During the program, scholars design and lead a clinical improvement project with guidance from experienced improvement leaders, while receiving formal training, mentorship from IHQI faculty coaches, and dedicated project support. The curriculum emphasizes identifying meaningful gaps in care, aligning with institutional priorities, addressing health disparities, and implementing practical, scalable solutions. In recent years, the Improvement Scholars program has involved the completion of a particularly extensive list of projects.
The IHQI, housed within the UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health, is dedicated to advancing healthcare improvement by supporting innovation, spreading best practices, and developing clinical leaders who drive system-wide change.
A Strong Tradition of Improvement & Leadership Within UNC Urology
Dr. Bjurlin’s selection continues a longstanding tradition of UNC Urology faculty contributing to and leading impactful quality improvement initiatives through the Improvement Scholars Program and IHQI.
UNC Urology has participated in the program across multiple cycles, including:
- 2015–2016: Perioperative Blood Management Program; UNC Urology Chair, Dr. Matthew Nielsen partnered with lead PI, Dr. Greg Balfanze from the Department of Anesthesiology to focus effort on patients undergoing cystectomy. The program created and instituted a standard practice for intraoperative administration of blood products in order to decrease unnecessary blood product administration. The effort laid the groundwork for the launch of a system-wide program around blood transfusions, supported by UNC Care Redesign, for which Dr. Nielsen was the lead physician. The effort, which resulted in a conservation of over 4,000 units of blood and cost savings of over $4 million in its first year, was covered in a peer review journal article titled, “How do I reduce variation in red blood cell transfusion practices in a large integrated health care system?”
- 2018–2021: During this period Dr. Nielsen served as Associate Director of IHQI, providing coaching and mentoring for Scholars on several important projects:
- 2018-2019: Opioid Stewardship in Obstetrics and Gastrointestinal Surgery Readmission Reduction.
- 2019-2020: Communicating Prognosis to Seriously Ill Patients and Families in the SICU, and Reducing Length of Stay for Pediatric Patients with Gastronomy Tubes
- 2020-2021: Improving Care for Addiction Related Endocarditis and Building High-Performance Team Dynamics for Rapid Response
Other UNC Urology Faculty members who have been selected as Improvement Scholars include:
- 2022-2023 Angie Smith: Optimizing and Implementing Clinical Patient-Reported Outcomes
- 2023-2024 Dave Friedlander: Pathways of Care Following ED Discharge for Renal Colic
- 2025-2026 Zach Feuer: Improving the Value of PSA Screening
And now, Dr. Bjurlin’s selection as an Improvement Scholar for 2026-2027 further underscores UNC Urology’s continued role as a consistent contributor to innovation in healthcare delivery and quality improvement across UNC Health.
Collectively, these contributions reflect the department’s sustained commitment to advancing care delivery, improving patient outcomes, and developing physician leaders in quality improvement.