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Christina E. Garbarino, MSN, RN

Perioperative Coordinator of Quality and Safety
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Christina Garbarino, MSN, RN, is the Perioperative Coordinator of Quality and Safety at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her BSN through Drexel University’s ACE Program in 2015 and completed her MSN in Quality, Safety, and Risk Management at Drexel University in 2024.
Christina began her career as an operating room nurse specializing in transplant and vascular surgery and served as a proud member of the uterine transplant team, participating as both a scrub and circulating nurse. She later advanced into the role of perioperative nurse educator, strengthening staff development and clinical readiness across the surgical platform.

In her current role, Christina leads initiatives that enhance perioperative quality, safety, and system reliability. Her contributions have been recognized through several institutional and professional honors, including the 2025 Karyn & Jim Mullen PeriOperative Leadership Award, which celebrates exceptional leadership in transforming perioperative education and safety. In 2023, Christina and an interdisciplinary team received the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Quality and Patient Safety Award for their work on Electronic Specimen Orders.She is also a published author in the AORN Journal.

Christina’s professional interests center on systems thinking and human factors engineering—principles she integrates into process improvement, safety strategy, and educational design. She is deeply committed to empowering and mentoring frontline clinicians, fostering meaningful engagement in change efforts, and building a culture where every team member feels equipped to influence safer, more reliable care

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose

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