Meet Dr. Michael Cull:
Michael Cull, PhD, is an Associate Director at the Center for Innovation in Population Health and Associate Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Kentucky. His work focuses on quality improvement and system reform efforts in child welfare jurisdictions.
Dr. Cull has specific expertise in applying safety science to improve safety, reliability, and effectiveness in organizations. His approach leverages tools like organizational assessment and systems analysis of critical incidents, including deaths and near deaths, to build team culture and help systems learn and get better. Dr. Cull is a co-author of the Safe Systems Improvement Tool (SSIT) and the TeamFirst Field Guide for Safe, Reliable, and Effective Child Welfare Teams. Cull also has 10+ years’ experience working with the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) and works across the country with leaders of the TCOM framework.
Before joining the TCOM team, Cull served as deputy commissioner overseeing the Office of Child Health for Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services. Prior to this appointment, he was an assistant professor in Health System Management at Vanderbilt University’s School of Nursing and the director of education and dissemination in the Office of Quality and Patient Safety for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. In addition to clinical practice as a faculty member in Child Psychiatry, he also previously served as executive director of the Community Mental Health Center, administrative director of the Department of Psychiatry Patient Care Center, and director of the Center of Excellence for Children in State Custody. He has a strong clinical background working with vulnerable populations and extensive experience with organizational evaluation and improvement in healthcare and the human services.
He holds a Master of Science in Nursing degree from Vanderbilt University and received his PhD from the Institute of Government at Tennessee State University.
If you’d like to get in touch with Dr. Cull, you can contact him at michael.cull@uky.edu.