Our Team

Lisa Morrise – Executive Director

Laura Allen

Laura Allen, Operations Director, joined Project Patient Care and Consumers Advancing Patient Safety in late 2018 after many years in the for-profit arena, working in the airline industry for 27 years and advertising for 11 years.  Laura has expertise in Administrative Management and web site facilitation. After a scare with her husband’s health many years ago, Laura realized the importance of communication between the hospital medical staff and patient and family.  Joining Project Patient Care and Consumers Advancing Patient Safety has made Laura realize that there is still a lot of work to be done to eliminate preventable harm to patients and there are dedicated people that are working tirelessly to implement change in order to ensure that every person receives the best possible care when faced with a medical issue.

Laura and her husband of 36 years raised 2 beautiful daughters who are now independent, successful young women.  A lifelong resident of Chicago, Laura and her husband continue to reside in the city along with their 2 adorable cats, Bernie and Mick.

Helen Haskell – Original Founder of CAPS

Helen Haskell is president of the nonprofit patient organizations Consumers Advancing Patient Safety and Mothers Against Medical Error. Since the medical error death of her young son Lewis in 2000, Helen has worked to bring the patient voice to healthcare safety and quality improvement. Her activities have spanned the range of patient safety and quality, including, among other topics, infection control, diagnosis, medical error, medical education, healthcare working conditions, and healthcare learning systems. In her home state of South Carolina, she was the architect of the Lewis Blackman Patient Safety Act, which required, for the first time, that healthcare providers be clearly identified and that patients be provided with an emergency response system in hospitals. She was closely involved in the passage and implementation of the South Carolina Hospital Infection Disclosure Act and served for many years on its advisory committee. In 2007 a state-sponsored Chair of Clinical Effectiveness and Patient Safety was endowed in the name of her son Lewis at the Medical University of South Carolina. The annual Lewis Blackman Patient Safety Champion Award, a central event of the 2008-2018 South Carolina Patient Safety Symposium, is now housed at the Patient Safety Movement Foundation.

Helen is co-chair of the WHO Patients for Patient Safety Advisory Group and an Institute for Healthcare Improvement senior fellow. She is a past member of the AHRQ National Advisory Council, and a past board member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the National Patient Safety Foundation, and the International Society for Rapid Response Systems. She serves on numerous other boards and committees, including the board of directors of the Patient Safety Action Network and the steering committee of Consumers United for Evidence-Based Medicine (the consumer arm of the US Cochrane Collaboration). She was a winner of Consumer Reports’ first national Excellence in Advocacy award in 2011, was named by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” in 2009, and by Becker’s Hospital Review as one of “50 Leaders in Patient Safety” in 2015, 2016, and 2017. She has written or co-authored many journal articles and patient educational materials on patient safety, patient engagement, and diagnostic accuracy and is co-editor of a textbook using patient narratives to teach patient safety and interprofessional competencies. Her son Lewis’s story has been featured in numerous educational programs and videos including modules for Quality and Safety Education in Nursing and Transparent Health’s full-length Lewis Blackman Story, shown in medical and nursing schools across the country.

Tracy Granzyk

Tracy Granzyk is a healthcare strategist, connector and change agent who left a successful sales and marketing career in the biotech industry to protect patients and healthcare professionals by using her writing, storytelling, and content development skills to increase awareness of the need for a more inclusive culture of medicine, which includes healthcare safety and patient engagement throughout the healthcare continuum. She creates innovative stories for web, print and film, incorporating knowledge and experience gained from a successful career across a wide range of healthcare entities, including health system administration, the biotech industry and medical research. Having worn multiple healthcare hats, Tracy has a wide perspective on what makes healthcare tick and the stories that still need to be told.

Tracy currently serves as the founding Director, Center for Healthcare Narrative at the MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety, and is founding Editor-in-Chief of Please See Me, an online, literary magazine that elevates the health-related story of vulnerable populations and those who care for them. She is also on faculty at the Academy for Emerging Leaders in Patient Safety (AELPS): The Telluride Experience where she teaches healthcare stakeholders, patients and families the value and the ‘how to’ of elevating and honoring their stories. In 2010, Tracy created a social media presence for AELPS via the Telluride Blog, Twitter and Instagram for attendees, colleagues and alumni, giving all a place and a platform from which to share their stories, culminating in the multi-authored nonfiction work, Shattering the Wall of Silence. She has written, directed and produced award-winning healthcare films and published numerous articles on these topics. In addition to leading the Center for Healthcare Narratives, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of California-Riverside Palm Desert Low Residency program in 2018, and is represented by Dara Hyde at the Hill Nadell Literary Agency. She is currently at work on several long-form creative nonfiction projects.

Tim McDonald

Tim McDonald, MD JD Is President, Center for Open and Honest Communication at the MedStar Institute for Quality & Safety. Dr. McDonald is a pediatric anesthesiologist, and also holds a degree in law. He is an internationally recognized expert on patient safety, communication and the delivery of high-quality patient care who served as the lead architect for the CANDOR (Communication and Optimal Resolution) toolkit. In addition to his role at MIQS, he is the principle of Transparent Health Consulting, LLC, through which he offers CANDOR Training Services.

Prior to establishing Transparent Health Consulting and joining MIQS, Dr. McDonald was the inaugural Service Chief for Anesthesiology at Sidra Medical and Research Center in Doha, Qatar, where he also served as Medical Director of Quality and Safety as well as Chair of Anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. Prior to his work in Qatar, Dr. McDonald was Chief Safety and Risk Officer for Health Affairs at the University of Illinois and professor of anesthesiology and pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago. He is also an adjunct professor of law at Loyola University School of Law.

Dr. McDonald’s research, in part, funded by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), has been published and presented widely. His research interests span his expertise in pediatric anesthesiology and patient safety. He is a member of and has held positions within a number of professional organizations and is a licensed attorney and counselor at law in the State of Illinois.

Laura Townsend

Laura Batz Townsend and her family have turned heartbreak and loss into the promise of improved safety for hospital patients in San Antonio and across the country. Laura grew up in the medical community of San Antonio, with five physicians in her family. Laura entered the sports marketing and sports grant management field, where she has worked for 13 years. That family medical background combined with Laura’s organizational and development skills equipped her family to create the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation in the hope that others could avoid the family tragedy they experienced upon the untimely loss of their mother.

On April 14, 2009, my mother, Louise Batz, went to the hospital to have routine knee replacement surgery. Sadly, the night following her surgery, a preventable medical error caused her to sustain an injury from which she could not recover. In her memory, Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation was established with the mission to help prevent medical errors by ensuring that patients and families have the knowledge they need to promote a safe hospital experience for their loved ones, and to support innovative advancements in patient safety.

Laura’s hope is that families, patients, and caregivers will work together as a Team to improve safety in our hospitals. The Foundation has worked with major hospitals in San Antonio and medical systems from across the country to successfully develop safety initiatives to reduce preventable medication errors.

Ronald Wyatt

Dr. Ronald Wyatt is Vice-President and Patient Safety Officer for MCIC Vermont, a major risk retention group basedin Atlanta, Georgia.

Prior to joining MCIC Vermont, Dr. Wyatt was formerly Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer at Cook CountyHealth in Chicago Illinois as well as former Chief of Patient Safety and quality for the Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar.

Dr. Wyatt was the first Patient Safety Officer at the Joint Commission and in that role. He served as Medical Directorin the Patient Safety Analysis Center Defense Health Agency/Military Health System Defense Health Agency, FallsChurch Virginia.

He is former co-chair of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Equity Advisory Group and is faculty for theIHI Pursuing Equity Initiative.

Dr. Wyatt is a facilitator for the ACGME Equity Matters Collaborative and serves as faculty for the IHI Pursuing EquityInitiative.

Dr. Wyatt is a credentialed course instructor in the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama Birmingham. He is co-course director Keystone Program at the Northwestern University School of Medicine Master’s Degree in Patient Safety Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Wyatt holds an honorary Doctor of Medical Sciences from the Morehouse School of Medicine and is a graduateof the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Medicine.

While a resident in training, at St. Louis University Group of Hospitals, he served as the first African American ChiefMedical Resident, in 1987-1988.

He is a board-certified Internist and practiced medicine for over twenty years, in St. Louis Missouri and Huntsville, Alabama. He earned the master’s (executive program) in health administration degree from the University of Alabama Birmingham School of Health Professions. He is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

Erica Steed

Erica N. Steed is the Director of Patient Experience at WellStar North Fulton. Ericamanages all aspects of projects that are geared at improving the patient experience.  She drives the hospital’s patient satisfaction, value-based purchasing, service recovery, patient engagement efforts and the communication department. She is responsible for policy changes as they relate to Patient- and Family-Centered Care.

Prior to joining WellStar, Erica served as the Manager of Patient and Family Engagement at Augusta University Medical System. Erica is also a proud Military Veteran. As a Sergeant in the U.S. Army, she was responsible for handling Supply and Logistics for training combat missions.

She is a graduate of Augusta State University and Troy State University, where she received her B.A. in Marketing and B.S. in Applied Computer Science respectively. She has an advanced degree in Business Management with a concentration in Information Technology (MBA, IT) from Troy State University, as well. She is also a certified TeamSTEPPS ® Master Trainer. She is an international speaker with expertise in strategic planning, process improvement and employee engagement.

Steed is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a graduate of the Greater Augusta Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership program and an active Board Member with the Easter Seals Disability Services, The Beryl Institute and PFAnetwork.

Her passion for inclusion and equal opportunities for the disabled community has led her to co-lead the Autism Support group (A-Team) in her community and has contributed to her being nominated as a finalist for the Community Impact State Award for employing differently- able staff. In 2020, Erica won the What’s Right in Healthcare Huron Group international award and completed her SibShop Facilitator Certification Training.

Chrissie Nadzam Blackburn

Chrissie Nadzam Blackburn, MHA, Principal Advisor, Patient and Family Engagement, University Hospitals Health System, Cleveland, Ohio

Chrissie Nadzam Blackburn is a nationally recognized patient and family engagement expert in healthcare. As a parent to a medically fragile child, Ms. Blackburn knows it was her participation and engagement with her child’s healthcare team that improved her daughter’s quality of life. She volunteered as a patient and family partner for many years on several committees across University Hospitals Health System and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.

In January 2014 she was appointed to the position of Principal Advisor of Patient and Family Engagement for the University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland, Ohio. She works with leaders, physicians and staff on implementing patient and family engagement practices, strategies, patient and family partnership councils, inclusion of patient and family partners on quality, safety, and patient experience committees, and governing boards, across a large, complex academic medical center and its 14 community and partner hospitals. She is also the PFE sub-contractor with the Ohio Hospital Association Hospital Improvement and Innovation Network through the CMS Partnership for Patients Campaign 3.0, where she works with over 100 hospitals across Ohio to implement PFE best practices.

Ms. Blackburn participates on the Solutions for Patient Safety’s Family Engagement Task Force, the Children’s Hospital Association’s Speak Now for Kids Advisory Board, the OHA’s Ohio Patient Safety Institute Board, the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, has participated with the National Academy of Medicine’s Care Culture roundtable, and the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Certification for Professionals in Patient Safety job analysis board.  Most recently Ms. Blackburn joined the Consumers for Advancing  Patient Safety board the Beryl Institute’s Patient Experience Policy Executive Committee. Ms. Blackburn has encouraged dialogue among medical and nursing staff, students, and health care leaders teaching and speaking about patient and family engagement nationally.

She holds a Bachelor of Liberal Studies with a focus in Psychology and Sociology from Bowling Green State University and a Masters of Health Care Administration from University of Phoenix. She is also pursuing her doctorate in behavioral health management.