At LeanTaaS, our mission to transform healthcare operations with AI is driven by the talented people behind the technology. Mission in Motion is a blog series that introduces the team members whose expertise, creativity, and personal journeys inspire the work we do every day. Through their stories, we explore what motivates them to tackle some of healthcare’s toughest operational challenges and why this work matters so deeply.
In this installment, we sit down with Justin Kelley, RN, MSN, a former oncology and palliative care nurse turned health informaticist who now serves as Manager of Strategic Enablement for iQueue for Infusion Centers. Justin’s journey from bedside nursing to healthcare technology reveals a powerful “why” behind his work to optimize infusion operations and support nurses and patients alike.
You worked as a nurse for many years before coming to LeanTaaS. What was that experience like, and what did you love most about it?
Justin Kelley: I spent nearly a decade working as a nurse, beginning at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina, where I completed my nursing school clinical rotations and then joined the oncology unit full time after graduation. Later, I moved to New York City and worked at Mount Sinai Hospital on the bone marrow transplant unit, before transitioning to the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at Mount Sinai. Those experiences taught me the importance of human connection—reading microexpressions, supporting families, advocating for patients at some of the most vulnerable points in their lives. I found an extreme amount of meaning in that work.
In oncology and palliative care, you spend so much time with patients that you really get to know them—their families, their hopes, their fears. You celebrate milestones with them, all while guiding them through their hardest moments. That kind of long-term connection is rare in other areas of nursing, and it left a lasting impact on me.
What were the biggest challenges you faced as a nurse?
JK: One big challenge was witnessing patients fall through the cracks due to inefficiencies—delays in care, documentation gaps, missed opportunities to intervene. This was before the big tech revolution in the early 2000s and hospitals were still finding their way with what they had available. This was especially difficult in oncology and palliative care, where patients can have highly complex, time-sensitive needs. You build these long-term relationships with your patients and families, every moment matters and it is on the care team’s shoulders to make it all feel seamless. It was incredibly hard to see inefficiencies affect the quality of those important moments.
Over time, it became clear to me that many of these issues weren’t the fault of any one person dropping the ball; they were systemic problems and I am by nature a problem solver—to a fault! I knew I could make a difference addressing these challenges from a different angle, one that could combine my passion for patients and my drive to fix it.
What inspired the switch from nursing to informatics and technology in healthcare?
JK: I realized technology had the potential to bridge the gaps in care I was seeing as a nurse—but only if it was designed with empathy and real clinical insight. That realization led me to pursue a degree in Nursing Informatics at NYU. While in New York, I worked as a nurse informaticist at several health systems, where I focused on improving documentation processes, implementing and optimizing EHR workflows, and helping clinical staff better understand technology to deliver care.
Later, my wife and I moved back to North Carolina to start our family, and I spent five years at Duke University Health System. At Duke, I worked primarily in ambulatory and radiology settings, managing patient-facing technology initiatives like MyChart and helping to implement telehealth solutions during the pandemic. That experience deepened my understanding of how technology priorities are set within large health systems—and how crucial it is to allocate finite resources wisely. It gave me a new appreciation for what “capacity management” really means—not just managing patient flow, but making smarter decisions across the entire healthcare delivery system.
What then drew you to work at LeanTaaS?
JK: I was feeling disconnected from the direct patient impact that originally brought me into healthcare. Around that time, a friend and former colleague introduced me to LeanTaaS. When I learned that LeanTaaS was using cool technology and data science to solve real operational problems in infusion centers—places where I had built so many connections as a nurse—it immediately resonated. It felt like the perfect combination of everything I cared about: improving oncology care, using technology thoughtfully, and advocating for better patient and nurse experiences. Joining LeanTaaS gave me the opportunity to continue making a meaningful difference, but on a broader scale across many health systems instead of just one.
Interacting with the healthcare system is an experience we all share. Have you had personal experiences that reinforced the importance of LeanTaaS’ mission?
JK: Absolutely. A close friend of ours was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and has been going through treatment for over a year now. Hearing about her infusion center experience—how she was seated quickly, cared for by amazing nurses, and never had to wait long—meant the world to me. Her biggest complaint was about the snacks, which is a pretty good sign that the care process itself was running smoothly.
I immediately recognized that she was being treated at a facility partnered with LeanTaaS and implementing iQueue for Infusion Centers; I had even visited that site myself. I had seen the challenges they were facing before the partnership. To now hear directly from someone I care deeply about that her experience was seamless—it hit home. It validated everything we work so hard for at LeanTaaS. I was already committed to our mission, but after that, I became “all in” in a whole new way.
Can you describe your role as a Manager of Strategic Enablement? What does “strategic enablement” mean in the context of infusion center operations?
JK: My day-to-day is all about staying ahead of the curve. I track macro trends, regulatory changes, emerging therapies, and shifting staffing challenges—then I make sure our teams and our customers are prepared.
Every infusion center has cycles of rapid growth, staffing fluctuation, and operational uncertainty. Strategic enablement is about helping them not just react, but proactively prepare for what’s next by building smart, agile systems that develop resilience. It’s about connecting the dots between today’s actions and tomorrow’s outcomes, so our centers can thrive long-term.
What are the biggest challenges infusion centers are facing today?
JK: Number one, hands down, is uncertainty. Legislative changes, payer moves, staffing shortages, new therapies—the ground keeps shifting. It’s hard to plan three years ahead when you don’t know what’s coming six months from now.
Adding to that, there’s what I call “innovation pressure.” Infusion centers are hearing constant messages that they need to “adopt AI” or “modernize operations,” but often the term “AI” is used without a clear definition. Are we talking about predictive analytics, generative AI, automation, something else? Every organization interprets it differently. At the same time, resources—whether financial, staffing, or technological—are limited, and leaders are being asked to make major transformation decisions without always having the necessary tools or clarity. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, and it’s a real risk that innovation efforts could actually introduce more complexity instead of solving the problems we face.
Where do you see the greatest opportunity for innovation in infusion center operations?
JK: First, by using smarter tools to clear away day-to-day cloudiness. When you solve the hard problems of capacity management—right patient, right nurse, right chair at the right time—you free leaders to think strategically instead of constantly fighting fires. Because if you have one hundred priorities, you really have no priorities. Innovation gives centers the focus they need to move from reacting to planning.
Second, by restoring nurse autonomy. AI-driven capacity management can help ensure that assignments are more balanced, schedules are more predictable, and staffing is optimized—freeing nurses from rigid, inflexible systems. I want nurses to eat lunch when they’re hungry, not when a computer tells them to. I want them to treat the patients they’re best at treating. Innovation should make the work more human, not less.
Third, precision medicine is rapidly reshaping oncology care. CAR-T therapies are becoming more common across infusion centers, and AI is helping accelerate the development of targeted treatments by identifying optimal tumor-specific antigens. We’re also seeing advances in how AI supports clinical trial recruitment and imaging interpretation. As these innovations continue, infusion centers will play an even more critical role in delivering personalized cancer treatments.
How do you see LeanTaaS making a difference in healthcare—both today and in the long term?
JK: Today, we’re making infusion centers more efficient and less stressful—for patients, for nurses, for everyone. We’re seeing real improvements in staff retention and patient flow.
Long term, healthcare is shifting dramatically. The outpatient space is expected to grow 17% in the next decade, while inpatient care grows only 3%. That means more complex patients in ambulatory settings, higher expectations, tighter resources. LeanTaaS is uniquely positioned to meet that challenge. We’ve proven we can solve tough capacity problems for over a decade. As complexity increases, the need for intelligent, predictive solutions will only grow—and we’re ready.
But what truly sets LeanTaaS apart is who we build for. We see ourselves as the people’s champion. Our users, our partners, the ones we talk to day in and day out—are nurses. They’re the frontline leaders who feel the weight of operational change every single day. That direct connection is what inspires us and drives us to build better, more thoughtful tools. Unlike other systems, we prioritize the needs of those actually delivering care.
At the end of the day, we want nurses to see iQueue as a signal that their voices are valued and their work is supported by tools purpose-built for the realities of specialized care.
Follow Justin on LinkedIn for more great insights.
