Susan E. Sheridan, MIM, MBA, DHL, is a Founding Member of Patients for Patient Safety (PFPS) US and the Director of Patient Engagement Emeritus at the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM). In 2022, Sheridan was appointed to the Patient Safety Working Group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Prior to her current roles, she served as the Patient and Family Engagement Adviser in the Center for Clinical Standards and Quality at the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Director of Patient Engagement of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and led the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Patients for Patient Safety initiative, a program under the World Health Organization (WHO) Patient Safety Program. Sheridan had previously spent 10 years in patient advocacy inspired by adverse family experiences in the healthcare system. Sheridan is Co-Founder and Past President of Parents of Infants and Children with Kernicterus (PICK) as well as Consumers Advancing Patient Safety (CAPS). Sheridan was the lead author on The PCORI Engagement Rubric: Promising Practices for Partnering in Research; The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Perspective’s What If?: Transforming Diagnostic Research by Leveraging a Diagnostic Process Map to Engage Patients in Learning from Errors and the WHO Action Framework for Patient and Family Engagement and Implementation Guide (In press) She speaks frequently on democratizing healthcare by engaging patients and family members as decision makers in the design of healthcare research, policy, medical professions education and in improving health care systems at national and international events. In April 2009, Sheridan was named to Modern Healthcare's list of Top 25 Women in Healthcare as well as Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare. In 2010 Sheridan was awarded the “Idaho Healthcare Hero” in community outreach by the Idaho Business Review and in 2011 Sheridan was appointed by The Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality of the Health Resources and Services Administration. She also served on the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) CLIAC Federal Advisory Council and the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Board of Directors as a Public Director. In 2022 she was awarded the Mark Graber Award of Excellence by SIDM. Sheridan and her family have been featured in USA Today, Wall Street Journal and New York Times and in the international documentaries, Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm and To Err is Human. Sheridan received her BA from Albion College, her MIM and MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management and her Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Adrian College. She has a professional background in international banking and served in Ecuador with her late husband, Pat, as Peace Corps volunteers.

Moderator

 Kathryn McDonald, MD, works at Johns Hopkins University as the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Health Systems, Quality and Safety. She holds primary appointments in the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine, as well as academic affiliations in business, public health and engineering. She is Co-Director of the Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence. Research products include over 100 evidence-based national quality, prevention and safety measures for improving care and reducing inequities. She has also authored seminal publications on coordination of care, patient safety practices and quality improvement strategies. Her contributions rely on insights from partnering with patients, frontline clinical teams, and delivery system leaders. Dr. McDonald has served as president of the Society for Medical Decision Making, and as a member of the National Academy of Medicine and National Quality Forum committees charting new territory in diagnostic quality and safety.