System Director of Patient Safety & Patient Safety Officer
Nicklaus Children's Hospital
Miami, FL

Janice Yanez, MSN, APRN, AGACNP-BC, FNP-BC, CPPS, is the System Director of Patient Safety and Patient Safety Officer at Nicklaus Children’s Health System in Miami, Florida. With nearly two decades of healthcare experience spanning bedside nursing, trauma, emergency department operations, healthcare information technology, quality improvement, and patient safety, she is passionate about building safer systems for patients, families, and the healthcare workforce.

Janice serves as a Florida Culture Subject Matter Expert for Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) and as a member of the SPS Clinical Steering Committee. Her work focuses on advancing learning-oriented safety cultures where healthcare professionals feel empowered to speak up, learn from safety events, and improve the systems in which they deliver care. Through SPS, she collaborates with children’s hospitals across North America to advance patient safety through shared learning, high-reliability practices, and innovative strategies to prevent harm. In recognition of her leadership and contributions to the field, Becker’s Hospital Review named her one of its “Patient Safety Leaders to Know” in both 2025 and 2026.

A Certified Professional in Patient Safety and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Janice is currently pursuing an Executive MBA in Health Management and Policy at the University of Miami Herbert Business School. She also serves as an adjunct professor at Florida International University’s Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences, where she provides clinical and simulation-based education while mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals and leaders.

Janice is a frequent speaker on modern safety, safety culture, workplace violence prevention, Just Culture, high reliability, and leadership. Her work is grounded in the belief that the future of healthcare depends on creating environments where patients, families, healthcare professionals, and communities can thrive safely.