Blog contribution by Meet Melanie Viquez, FACHE, PMP, EDAC, MT(ASCP), Senior Project Manager @ Yellow Brick Consulting.
Throughout her career in healthcare, Melanie has excelled at the intersection of operations, facility activation, and project management, ensuring seamless, patient-centered transitions. Her diverse national and international experience gives her a comprehensive perspective on healthcare challenges and solutions. At Yellow Brick Consulting, she remains an invaluable resource to her clients, utilizing her technical expertise and foresight to keep her team ahead of the curve.
Melanie has been an NIHD member since 2018 and is serving on the Education Committee.
Melanie began her career as a microbiologist but discovered her passion for facility design and construction while on the owner’s side of a hospital project. Her attention to detail and meticulous planning made her a natural fit for this work. She loves learning new concepts—whether it’s the architectural/construction jargon or the intricacies of different disciplines within a hospital project. Her first project was a true melding of the minds, where highly skilled professionals had to collaborate to design, build, outfit, and operationalize spaces that would impact the delivery of care to the patients they served.
For me, meaningful work is about connection, satisfaction, and value. Connection comes from working with teams who share a vision, creating spaces that truly support a holistic patient care experience. In this industry, we're only as good as our last project, and strong relationships are key. The best advice comes from those who have lived it, reinforcing the value of peer-to-peer collaboration and shared lessons learned. Satisfaction comes from seeing a project come to life, knowing it enhances patient safety and staff efficiency. Value means our work must serve a greater purpose—every decision impacts caregivers and patients. I see myself as a bridge between vision and reality and find that when people are invested in the process, the no task is impossible to overcome.