Leadership

We have assembled national and international CRP pioneers and respected thought leaders who can guide and participate in the activities of the Collaborative.

Board of Directors

Jeffrey Catalano, JD

Jeffrey Catalano, JD

Partner, Keches Law Group, P.C.

Jeffrey N. Catalano is a partner at Keches Law Group, P.C., where he represents victims of catastrophic injuries in medical negligence and other personal injury cases. Deeply committed to health care safety, Mr. Catalano serves on a number of patient safety organizations, including the Massachusetts Alliance for Communication and Resolution Following Medical Injury (MACRMI). Mr. Catalano, a former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, regularly speaks and writes on disclosure and transparency following medical injuries locally and nationally.

Barbara Gold, MD, MHCM, FASA

Barbara Gold, MD, MHCM, FASA

Board President Elect, Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement | Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Minnesota and Chief Clinical Risk Officer, University of Minnesota Physicians

Barbara Gold, MD, MHCM, FASA is a Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota and Chief Clinical Risk Officer for University of Minnesota Physicians. Based on a longstanding interest in patient safety, she is implementing a communication and resolution program for medical staff, trainees, patients and families in partnership with Risk Management for the practice plan and the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.

Kimberly Gregory, MD, MPH

Kimberly Gregory, MD, MPH

Vice Chair of Women’s Healthcare Quality and Performance Improvement, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cedars Sinai

Kimberly Gregory, MD, MPH, is vice chair of Women’s Healthcare Quality and Performance Improvement in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is the director and fellowship director of the division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, and is the second endowed chair holder of the Helping Hand of Los Angeles Miriam Jacobs Chair in Maternal Fetal Medicine. Her research interests include cesarean delivery, maternal morbidity and mortality, safety and quality of care in obstetrics, and developing patient reported outcome measures for evaluating maternal satisfaction with the childbirth experience.

Ian Jenkins, MD, SFHM

Ian Jenkins, MD, SFHM

Professor of Medicine and Patient Safety Committee Chair, UCSD Hospital Medicine

Dr. Jenkins attended the University of Virginia medical school and completed residency at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Since 2004 he has been a hospitalist at the University of California, San Diego, where he‘s become a Professor of Medicine. He’s worked on a number of quality improvement projects. At UCSD Health, Dr. Jenkins serves as the Vice Chair for Quality in hospital medicine, and chairs the Patient Safety Committee. He has worked with the Society of Hospital Medicine as a faculty mentor on HAI and VTE prevention, and worked on their education and healthcare quality/ patient safety committees; he now chairs the HCQPS committee.

Caleshia Myles, MS, BHIT, CPC, CHERS, CBCS

Caleshia Myles, MS, BHIT, CPC, CHERS, CBCS

Director of Patient Access, Central Scheduling and Verification, MedStar Health

Caleshia Myles has worked for MedStar Health for 18 years and is the current Director of Patient Access, Central Scheduling and Verification unit. She previously was the Administrator for the Medstar Transplant Institute. Caleshia received her bachelor’s degree in Health Information Technology from Catholic University of America, and a master’s degree from Georgetown University in Clinical Quality, Safety & Leadership. In her current role she uses her results-oriented way of thinking to make conversations more constructive and beneficial for patients. She is passionate about improving patient access and quality of care using technology and achieving this through collaboration and authenticity. She provides patient excellence in service by using her personal experience and leadership to improve the lives of the patients she serves. Caleshia has suffered emotional and physical harm from the healthcare system and looks to improve communication after harm events.

Uma Kotagal, MBBS, MSc

Uma Kotagal, MBBS, MSc

Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics and Senior Fellow, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Dr. Uma Raman Kotagal currently serves as Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics and Senior Fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She has been a pioneer in the application of system science to improve outcomes in health care delivery across the world including developing countries and in partnering to create the Learning Networks models to improve outcomes at scale. She is a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Carnegie Foundation. She has received numerous awards for her contributions. Dr. Kotagal holds a MS in Epidemiology from Harvard University-School of Public Health, and a medical degree from Grant Medical College in Mumbai, India. Dr Kotagal was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine in 2009.

Dahlia Mak, MHA

Dahlia Mak, MHA

Board Secretary, Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement

Dahlia Mak has been in the healthcare industry for more than 20 years as a healthcare administrator and lean consultant, most recently serving as Managing Director in the Lean Health Care Practice at Moss Adams. Healthcare quality and patient safety have been focused areas of interest for Dahlia personally and professionally. In 2013, the urgent need for patient safety improvements hit home with the sudden death of her brother from a misdiagnosed medical condition and a distressing process of communication and resolution that followed. Dahlia has dedicated her career to improving quality and the healthcare experience, sharing her skills in lean methodology so that other patients and families need not suffer the loss her family experienced.

Julie Morath, RN, MS, CPPS

Julie Morath, RN, MS, CPPS

Immediate Past President, Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement

Julie Morath has over three decades experience as a healthcare executive, following her work as a registered and advanced practice nurse , specializing in psychiatry and mental health. She has held C-suite positions as Chief Nursing Officer and VP of Clinical Services, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer at major US health systems, including serving as President and CEO for the development of the Hospital Quality Institute of California.

Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH

Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH

Professor of Medicine, UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine | Associate Director, UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations

Urmimala Sarkar MD, MPH, is a Professor of Medicine at UCSF in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Associate Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations. She is a general internist and primary care physician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center’s Richard Fine People’s Clinic. Dr. Sarkar is an expert in outpatient safety, including diagnostic safety, health information technology, and health disparities. Along with leading patient safety improvement efforts in safety-net health systems that care for low-income and ethnically diverse patients, Dr. Sarkar served on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Improving Diagnosis and advised the California State Department of Health Services and the National Quality Forum on measurement of outpatient safety, among other thought-leadership activities in this field.

Leilani Schweitzer

Leilani Schweitzer

Board President, Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement

Since 2011, Leilani has worked on Stanford’s efforts to be transparent and learn after unexpected medical outcomes. She uses her own experience to navigate between the often insular, legal and administrative sides of medical error; and the intricate, emotional side of the patient and family experience.

Michael J. Severyn, Esq.

Michael J. Severyn, Esq.

Regional Claims Executive – Midwest Region, ProAssurance Companies

Michael J. Severyn, Esq. is regional vice president of Claims at ProAssurance. He has worked at ProAssurance for 23 years and has directly managed and supervised thousands of medical malpractice claims files; more than 1,300 of those cases have gone through jury trials. Prior to joining ProAssurance, Mr. Severyn worked as an attorney in private practice defending MPL claims brought against hospitals, physicians, chiropractors, podiatrists, and nursing homes. He also has experience defending workers compensation and personal injury cases. Mr. Severyn has been an active member of the State Bar of Michigan continually since 1990.

Michael C. Stinson, JM

Michael C. Stinson, JM

Board Treasurer, Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement | Vice President of Government Relations & Public Policy, Medical Professional Liability Association

Mike Stinson is Vice President of Government Relations & Public Policy for the Medical Professional Liability Association. He received a Juris Master from George Mason University School of Law and an undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of New Hampshire Wittemore School of Business and Economics. Mike co-chairs CAI’s Policy & Advocacy Committee.

Kyle Sweet, JD

Kyle Sweet, JD

Board Treasurer-Elect, Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement | Chief Strategy Officer, Helio Risk

Kyle Sweet is Chief Strategy Officer at Helio Risk. Prior to that, he was an Oklahoma-based defense lawyer represents healthcare providers in catastrophic injury cases around the United States. Kyle teaches in medical schools, dental schools and teaches seminars regularly to healthcare providers on how to avoid litigation by improving quality of care through more effective communication. Kyle is proud to serve on the CAI and looks forward to helping make Communication Resolution Programs the industry standard.

Albert W. Wu, MD, MPH

Albert W. Wu, MD, MPH

Director of the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, Johns Hopkins

Albert W. Wu is a practicing general internist and Fred and Julie Soper Professor of Health Policy & Management and Medicine at Johns Hopkins. He is director of the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research. He has worked in patient safety since the 1980s, was a member of the IOM Committee on Preventing Medical Errors, and was Senior Adviser for Patient Safety at WHO from 2007-2009. He is director of Strategic Collaborations for the Armstrong Institute. He also leads the online Masters of Applied Science in Patient Safety & Healthcare Quality, and is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management. He is co-founder and co-director of the RISE (Resilience in Stressful Events) peer support program.

UW Medicine Oversight Committee

Geetanjali Chander MD MPH FACP

Geetanjali Chander MD MPH FACP

Division Head, General Internal Medicine, University of Washington

Geetanjali Chander, MD MPH is Professor of Medicine and the Division Head of General Internal Medicine at the University of Washington. Her clinical work and research are focused on the intersection of alcohol and other substance use and HIV risk and infection. With a transdisciplinary, collaborative team she conducts NIH-funded epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and implementation research, including community-based participatory research. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Washington in 2022, Dr. Chander was a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the research director for the Brancati Center for the Advancement of Community Care. Dr. Chander has been the recipient of numerous mentoring awards, including the Mid-Career Research Mentorship Award from the National Society for General Internal Medicine.

Barbara Jung, MD

Barbara Jung, MD

Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Washington

Dr. Jung is currently the Chair of Medicine at the University of Washington, Department of Medicine.

Dr. Jung received her medical degree with thesis in 1996 from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in San Diego, she completed a residency in internal medicine and fellowship in gastroenterology at UC San Diego.

She has a strong track record of teaching and mentoring students, residents, and fellows and is currently a faculty mentor for longitudinal career advising to first year medical students.

Elizabeth A. Leedom, JD

Elizabeth A. Leedom, JD

Director, Bennett Bigelow and Leedom PS

Liz is an experienced trial lawyer who has represented hospitals, physicians and other providers in medical malpractice cases for over 33 years and has tried over 65 malpractice cases to verdict. She has special expertise on cases involving obstetrics, neurosurgery, anesthesia and emergency medicine. She is regularly selected to the “Super Lawyers”, “Top 50 Women Lawyers”, and Best Lawyers®lists.

Patricia Kritek, MD

Patricia Kritek, MD

Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, University of Washington School of Medicine

Trish Kritek is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine and the Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs for the University of Washington School of Medicine. In this role, she focuses on helping the School of Medicine faculty thrive by bringing them a broad array of resources including those focused on career development, leadership skills, well-being and more. Dr. Kritek is an attending physician in multiple ICUs at the University of Washington Medical Center and is a clinician-educator with diverse teaching interests ranging from ventilator management and patient and family centered care to feedback and mentoring. Her scholarship focuses on feedback, interactive teaching strategies, and the career development of clinician educators. She has written extensively and spoken locally and nationally on these topics.

Lisa Hammel, JD

Lisa Hammel, JD

Senior Director of Clinical Risk Management, UW Medicine

Lisa Hammel is the Senior Director for UW Medicine Clinical Risk Management. She joined UWMC in September, 2018. Prior to that, Lisa spent 22 years as a defense attorney, with a primary focus on medical malpractice and professional liability defense. Before becoming an attorney, Lisa spent 10 years working as an engineer for Texaco and General Motors.

Anneliese Schleyer MD, MHA, SFHM

Anneliese Schleyer MD, MHA, SFHM

Interim Chief Medical Officer, UW Medicine

Anneliese Schleyer, MD, MHA, SFHM, is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and Interim Chief Medical Officer for UW Medicine. In this role, she partners with leaders across the health system to lead patient safety and quality improvement. A practicing hospitalist, Dr. Schleyer has been involved in quality and safety for more than 25 years.

Jane Yung, JD

Jane Yung, JD

Executive Compliance & Risk Officer, University of Washington

Jane Yung is the Executive Compliance and Risk Officer for the University of Washington, overseeing management of a variety of claims and lawsuits; the risk financing and consulting operations; the University’s captive insurance company; and compliance services, which includes the internal investigation and resolution office. Jane previously served for 14 years as an attorney for the University at the Attorney General’s Office and team leader of the healthcare practice, and for two years at UW Medicine. She is currently President of the Washington State Society of Healthcare Attorneys (WSSHA) and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Health Law Manual 4th Edition.

We thank our past Board members for their contributions to our mission

  • Timothy McDonald, MD, JD

    Chief Patient Safety and Risk Officer, RLDatix

  • Kenneth Sands, MD, MPH

    Chief Epidemiologist and Patient Safety Officer, HCA

  • Brian Atchinson

    President and CEO, MPL Association

  • Richard Boothman, JD

    Partner and Strategic Consultant, Press Ganey

  • Jeffery Driver, Esq.

    Principal and Chief Consultant, Soteria Risk Works

  • Linda Kenney

    Director of Peer Support Programs, Betsy Lehman Center

  • Cheryl M. De Kleine, Esq

    Associate Vice President Claims, Litigation and Clinical Risk Management, Ascension Care Management

  • Brian Parker, MD

    Chief Quality Learning Officer, Allegheny Health Network

  • Heidi Steeves, MHA

    Senior Director of Quality and Experience, Washington Permanente Medical Group

  • Eric Thomas, MD, MPH

    Associate Dean for Healthcare Quality, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

  • Carole Hemmelgarn, MS, MS

    Patient Advocate | Director, Executive Master’s Program for Clinical Quality, Safety & Leadership at Georgetown University

  • Allen B. Kachalia, MD, JD

    Director, Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality Senior Vice President of Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins Medicine

  • Marcia Rhodes

    Director, Clinical Risk Financing at UW Medicine

Staff

Thomas H. Gallagher, MD

Thomas H. Gallagher, MD

Executive Director

Thomas H. Gallagher, M.D., is a general internist who is Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington, where he is Associate Chair for Patient Care Quality, Safety, and Value. He is also a Professor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities. He also is Executive Director of the Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement, an organization dedicated to advancing the spread of Communication and Resolution Programs (www.communicationandresolution.org). Dr. Gallagher’s research addresses the interfaces between healthcare quality, communication, and transparency.

Dr. Gallagher received his medical degree from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital, Washington University, St. Louis, and completed a fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, UCSF.

Melissa Parkerton, MA

Melissa Parkerton, MA

Assistant Director

After receiving her BA at Dartmouth and a master’s degree from Bastyr University, Melissa had multiple important roles providing senior leadership for research and improvement projects. She led initiatives at Group Health in Washington, at UCLA and the VA in Los Angeles, and at the Oregon patient Safety Commission where she rose to the level of Interim Executive Director and served on the CAI Board. After her time at OPSC, she spent two years supporting quality improvement initiatives in India, followed by public health leadership roles in Oregon and Washington.

Melissa also serves as the Director of the Pathway to Accountability Compassion and Transparency (PACT).

Lauge Sokol-Hessner, MD, CPPS

Lauge Sokol-Hessner, MD, CPPS

Associate Director

Lauge Sokol-Hessner, MD, CPPS, is a hospitalist, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington, QI Mentor at the UW Medicine Center for Scholarship in Patient Care Quality and Safety, speaker and consultant for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and a guest speaker for the Harvard Medical School Masters in Healthcare Quality and Safety (HMS MHQS). He has experience in operational quality & safety, developing leaders in quality & safety, teaching communication skills, coaching health care organizations to implement highly-reliable CRP programs, and he champions patient and family engagement, ethics, humanism, equity, and respect in health care. He completed medical school and residency at the University of Pennsylvania.

Karen Brigham, JD, MPH

Karen Brigham, JD, MPH

Research Manager

Karen has a public policy and health services research background. Before joining the University of Washington, she worked for Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, the teaching hospital consortium in Paris.

Nicole Moore, MPH

Nicole Moore, MPH

Continuing Education Coordinator

Nicole joined the Collaborative for Accountability and Improvement following the completion of her MPH from the Community-Oriented Public Health Practice program at the University of Washington. She also has a background in healthcare communication and marketing.

Heidi Unruh, MA

Heidi Unruh, MA

Project Coordinator

Heidi has a background in project management, research management, and communications. She has held positions at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and she completed her MA in Organizational Psychology from Antioch University in Seattle.

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