Day Two Speakers

Shelly Davis, JD, BSN

Shelly Davis is director of early intervention at Constellation. In this role, she works with insureds when unexpected outcomes occur. Early intervention facilitates trust and good will between providers and their patients. Before obtaining her law degree from William Mitchell College of Law, Davis worked as a registered nurse throughout Chicago  and within the Mayo Clinic system. Her past practice as a medical malpractice lawyer and nurse gives her a unique perspective when handling claims and lawsuits. She appreciates the risks inherent in providing health care. She has represented healthcare providers and facilities in medical negligence claims, during pre-litigation claims and during investigations of unexpected outcomes in health care. She is a frequent lecturer on the topics of medical malpractice, medical negligence claims and risks associated with being a healthcare provider.

Laurie Drill-Mellum, MD, MPH

Dr. Laurie Drill-Mellum brings more than 30 years as a practicing physician to help guide Constellation’s work of supporting healthcare organizations in order to free physicians and other clinicians to focus on their mission: to help, to heal and to serve. An MD with a master’s degree in public health, she brings a physician’s perspective as well as that of patients and family members in Constellation’s efforts to promote patient safety and mitigate risk. Dr. Drill-Mellum’s passion for, and background in, the studies of culture, behavior, leadership and integrative medicine fuel her commitment and drive in serving the mission of Constellation. She provides insights to health practitioners’ perspectives, challenges and lives and is a fierce advocate for the wellbeing of those practicing medicine on the front lines of care and the critical importance of supporting them when they’ve been involved in a patient-harm event. Preventing these events and mitigating harm once they occur is the core of her dedication to her work.

Tom Evans, MD, FAAFP

Dr. Tom Evans is president and CEO of the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative. He practiced family medicine for 13 years and served as chief medical officer for UnityPoint Health. Dr. Evans has served on the board for the National Patient Safety Foundation and on the delegations for both the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians. He served as president of both the Iowa Medical Society and the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Evans is a faculty member with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the College of Medicine at Des Moines University and the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa.

Bruce Lambert, PhD

Bruce Lambert received his doctorate in speech communication from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies and director of the Center for Communication and Health at Northwestern University. His research focuses on health communication, patient safety and medical liability reform. Lambert is the principal investigator on a five-year grant, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to study techniques for preventing wrong-drug and wrong-patient errors. He is president of BLL Consulting and Pharm IR, firms that solve problems involving health, communication and technology. He blogs about communication at howcommunicationworks.com.

Timothy McDonald, MD, JD

Dr. Timothy McDonald is chief patient safety and risk officer at RLDatix and professor of law at Loyola University Chicago. Dr. McDonald is a physician-attorney whose research has focused on the principled approach to patient harm with an emphasis on reporting of patient safety events, the use of simulation and human factors analysis and providing open and honest communication following harm events. His federally funded research has focused on these domains and their impact on improving the quality of care while mitigating medical liability and other legal-related issues.

Suzanne Schrandt

Suzanne Schrandt is a patient and patient engagement advocate with a health and disability law and policy background. She serves as the senior patient engagement advisor to the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM), where she helps incorporate patient insights and voices to fuel improvements in the diagnostic process. Schrandt previously served as the director of patient engagement at the Arthritis Foundation, where she led the Foundation’s Patient Engagement strategy and as the deputy director of patient engagement for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. Schrandt’s background includes work in bioethics, genetic discrimination and chronic disease self-management, as well as a long history in patient-led clinical training aimed at increasing early diagnosis and appropriate, patient centered management of chronic disease. Schrandt’s passion for patient engagement began in large part from her own experience, having been diagnosed with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis as a teenager. Schrandt received her law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law.