Concurrent Sessions

Dr. Christine (Chris) Goeschel is a health care consultant, teacher, mentor, and implementation scientist who recently retired from her role as a system leader at MedStar Health and professor of Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. During her tenure as Assistant Vice President in the MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety (MIQS) and inaugural Director of the Center for Improving Healthcare Diagnosis, Chris focused her research on clinical and administrative leadership to improve the science of health care delivery and on improving diagnostic processes.

Her experience includes diverse health care roles: as a critical care nurse, a hospital executive, as founder and first executive for the Michigan Health & Hospital Association Keystone Center for Patient Safety and Quality, and as an implementation scientist/quality and patient safety researcher. Dr. Goeschel was Michigan PI on groundbreaking research to reduce bloodstream infections in intensive care units from 2003-2005, ("Keystone ICU"). From 2006 until 2013 she was an assistant professor in the schools of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing at Johns Hopkins and an advisor to the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program, where she contributed to large scale improvement projects in Spain, England, and Peru and the Middle East. She was a member of the 2013-2015 "NAM" Committee that produced "Improving Health Care Diagnosis" as part of the IOM Crossing the Quality Chasm series.

Dr. Goeschel served on The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the National Advisory Council for Quality and Safety Research (NAC), and for five years on the SIDM National Advisory Committee for the Coalition to Improve Diagnosis. Chris was PI on three unique multi-year awards focused on building diagnostic capacity and improving diagnostic processes to achieve diagnostic excellence. In addition to peer reviewed publications and 12+AHRQ issue briefs (developed by national leaders addressing diverse aspects of diagnostic safety), resources developed during the awards include publicly available tools focused on diagnostic calibration, measurement, patient and family engagement and teamwork.Dr Goeschel continues to teach a required healthcare leadership course at Johns Hopkins and serves on the Board of a multi-hospital system in Michigan.

Dr. Ali is a Research Scientist at the MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety. Dr. Ali helped to develop the TeamSTEPPS® for Improving Diagnosis Resource for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and has taught the TeamSTEPPS® Master Trainer course in the U.S. and internationally. She has technical expertise in study design methodology, mixed-methods evaluation, implementation science, content development, and training clinical teams. Her work is in patient safety and quality improvement, with a focus is on improving rural healthcare. Dr. Ali is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• Katie Carlin, MBA, serves as the Assistant Vice President of Business Development and Operations for the MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety. In this role she is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the Institute’s organizational infrastructure that supports and enhances the Institute’s ability to provide high quality education, research and consulting in patient safety and clinical quality. Katie also serves as project manager on a 5-year, $8.7M federal contract vehicle to build federal research capacity related to diagnosis safety for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Katie joined MedStar Health in 2013 serving as Director of Research Development, Planning and Communications for the MedStar Health Research Institute. A strategic, diplomatic, and collaborative business development leader, she played a significant role in developing and enhancing MedStar's research infrastructure. This included fostering system-wide collaborations among investigators, leading communication and marketing efforts, developing partnerships with external third-party organizations, and creating strategic plans to help enhance MedStar's diverse and robust research programs. Prior to joining MedStar, Katie served as the Manager of Marketing and Business Development for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the George Washington University, where she was responsible for the creation and implementation of marketing and growth strategies. At George Washington, she was a key contributor in the telehealth space and participated in telehealth research projects in the areas of cancer prevention, emergency medicine, wound care and peritoneal dialysis. Katie received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University where she was captain of the two-time NCAA DI Championship women’s lacrosse team and earned her Masters of Business Administration from the George Washington University. She lives in Severna Park, MD with her husband, two kids and dog Lulu.

Helen Haskell is president of the nonprofit patient organizations Mothers Against Medical Error and Consumers Advancing Patient Safety. She is an Institute for Healthcare Improvement senior fellow, a board member of the Patient Safety Action Network and the International Society for Rapid Response. She is a recently retired board member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and a previous chair of the Patient Engagement Committee of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine and of the WHO Patients for Patient Safety Advisory Group. She continues to work with the World Health Organization on patient safety and patient engagement and with SIDM and AHRQ on diagnostic issues.   Helen’s goal since the medical error death of her young son Lewis has been to enhance the patient contribution to safety and quality in healthcare. She has written or co-authored dozens of articles, book chapters, and educational materials on patient engagement in safety, quality, and diagnosis, including a co-edited textbook of case studies from the patient perspective. Her son Lewis’s story has been featured in educational programs and videos including Transparent Health’s full-length Lewis Blackman Story. Helen holds a bachelor's degree in Classical Studies from Duke University and a master’s degree in Anthropology from Rice University in the United States.