Executive Director
617-701-8172
Barbara Fain was appointed Executive Director of the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety in December 2013. Barbara’s career has been devoted to health policy development and analysis, public engagement, and strategic planning for government agencies, academic institutions, policy think tanks, and healthcare organizations. Her work for the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies focused on developing standards for allocating scarce medical resources in disasters.
Before then, Barbara was executive director of a health policy research center at Harvard Law School. For over a decade she served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office where she spearheaded the state’s Community Benefit Guidelines for hospitals and health plans.
Barbara served on the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and was adjunct faculty at the Tufts University School of Medicine where she taught public health law. She received her BA from Brown University, a JD from UC Berkeley, and an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School.
Senior Operations Manager
Alexa is responsible for managing the Betsy Lehman Center’s annual budget, overseeing contracts and grants, and implementing operational improvement projects. She is the primary liaison to the Center’s sister agency, the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA).
Previously, Alexa worked for the Boston Children’s Hospital Trust, most recently as the philanthropic funds reporting officer. During her time at the Trust, she was responsible for analyzing and reporting on philanthropic funds to support Boston Children’s Hospital’s mission.
Alexa holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and studio art from Simmons University, and a master’s degree in finance from Northeastern University.
Program Manager
617-701-8219
Meaghan joined the Betsy Lehman Center in September 2020. She has been involved in several initiatives aimed at improving patient safety in Massachusetts, including coordinating the Massachusetts Healthcare Safety and Quality Consortium.
Prior to the Betsy Lehman Center, Meaghan worked in various roles in the fields of neuroscience and genetics. She spent time as a senior neurophysiologist in consumer neuroscience and a research assistant in labs at Boston Children’s Hospital and Emmanuel College. Meaghan holds a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience with a minor in Management from Emmanuel College.
Editor, Patient Safety Beat
617-701-8271
Susan has worked as a writer and editor in health care for the past 20 years and concentrated on patient safety and quality improvement since 2004. Having worked with a wide range of professionals, advocates, and engaged consumers across the United States and overseas, Susan is delighted to join the Betsy Lehman Center and focus on Massachusetts, where she has lived for most of her adult life.
Achieving meaningful safety and quality improvement requires individuals and organizations with different kinds of expertise to work together, which is what Susan loves about this work. As founding editor of Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare, Susan had an unusual opportunity to solicit guidance, writing and feedback from experts across many domains of healthcare. In addition to her work for the Betsy Lehman Center, Susan currently works with the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, the Engaging Patients blog and an association of radiology educators.
Senior Program Manager
617-701-8246
Charlie joined the Betsy Lehman Center in December 2019. His work focuses on convening statewide partner organizations and working with research collaborators to develop practice and policy recommendations.
Prior to the Betsy Lehman Center, Charlie worked in public health and public policy in the U.S. and Canada. Most recently he led multi-year national policy research initiatives at the Public Policy Forum, a leading Canadian think tank. His work included initiatives to advance policy related to immigration, the changing nature of work, access to innovative medicines and improving opioid addiction treatment.
Charlie’s ability to bridge practice and policy was developed in consulting and management roles at the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health. There he worked with family engagement experts, clinicians, and organizational and government leaders to transform the provincial children’s behavioral health system.
Charlie received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from McGill University and master’s degree in public policy from the Muskie School of Public Service.
Senior Program Manager
617-701-8107
Jackie Ewuoso manages the Betsy Lehman Center’s peer support programs and other patient safety initiatives. She has several years of experience in community health addressing social determinants of health and working in chronic disease prevention.
Before coming to the Betsy Lehman Center, Jackie was a public health prevention specialist at the Worcester Division of Public Health and the Central Massachusetts Public Health Alliance. In this position, she managed community health grants aimed at addressing chronic diseases by increasing access to healthy food and opportunities for physical activity. She coordinated projects and initiatives focused on policy, systems and environmental change as a way to increase healthy eating and active living in the city of Worcester and six surrounding towns.
Jackie holds a Master in Public Health from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Director of Peer Support Programs
617-701-8193
As a result of a personal experience with a near fatal medical event many years ago, Linda identified the need for support services in cases of adverse medical events and outlined an agenda for change. For more than twenty years, she has been encouraging organizations to tackle the challenges that impair effective communication, apology, and support programs for patients, families, and clinicians following medical errors and unanticipated outcomes.
Linda serves as a patient representative on numerous task forces and is on the board of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors.
Senior Communications and Content Manager
617-701-8110
Kim joined the Betsy Lehman Center in March 2019 as communications and content manager after a decade of experience and graduate studies in corporate business and finance. After overcoming her own life-changing medical events, she has emerged a passionate survivor and advocate, consequently redirecting her career aspirations toward the field of public health. She considers this transformative chapter a “spiritual awakening” and not an “existential crisis.” Kim’s health activism work comprises writing features, blogging, serving as board member, organizing support events and public speaking, including a TEDx talk.
Kim studied economics and political science at Tufts University and business administration and finance at Northeastern University, with plans to pursue graduate studies in public health and policy.
Administrative and Operations Coordinator
617-701-8271
Aretha joined the Betsy Lehman Center in April 2021. In her role as Operations Coordinator, she coordinates meetings with external partners, assists with management of the Center's budget, and provides other administrative support.
In previous roles, Aretha worked on improving companies’ financial, legal, and operational efficiency. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Operations and Information Management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Deputy Director
617-701-8216
M.E. Malone joined the Betsy Lehman Center in 2014. She works with state agencies, the provider community, consumers and other stakeholders to research and develop policy approaches to ensuring that patients in Massachusetts receive high-quality, safe care in all settings. Together with the executive director, she sets strategic goals and priorities to advance the Center’s vital public health mission.
Prior to joining the Betsy Lehman Center, she spent 25 years as a news journalist, including more than 10 as a staff reporter and assistant editor at the Boston Globe. She was a researcher for the newspaper’s investigative unit, the Spotlight Team, and a daily beat reporter covering government affairs at Boston City Hall and the Massachusetts State House.
In 2014, M.E. earned a master’s degree in public health from Tufts University's School of Medicine and a master's in science from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. She also holds a B.A. in English from Boston College.
Policy Director
617-701-8308
John McInerney joined the Betsy Lehman Center as its Policy Director in November 2022. John manages the organization’s patient safety policy portfolio, including legislative, regulatory, and stakeholder engagement to help improve the quality and safety of health care across the Commonwealth.
Prior to joining the Betsy Lehman Center, John worked as a Specialist Leader at Deloitte, primarily advising state clients on issues related to Medicaid policy and ACA implementation. He has over 20 years of Medicaid, CHIP, managed care, and health financing experience at both the state and federal level, including as a legislative director in the Massachusetts State Senate, a health economics research lead with the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, and children’s health program manager with the National Academy for State Health Policy. He holds a B.A. from Boston College and a Master of Public Policy degree from Georgetown University.
Associate Research Director
617-701-8138
Prior to joining the Betsy Lehman Center, Godwin worked for several years with the Ministry of Health in Ghana where he provided direct patient care, managed a community mental health program and collaborated with policy leaders to design quality improvement initiatives for mothers and newborns.
Godwin’s career has been devoted to improving healthcare for vulnerable populations including those affected by mental health issues, HIV/AIDS and mothers and newborns. As a physician researcher, Godwin has a life-long interest in health care quality and patient safety and hopes to utilize his experience in supporting the patient safety initiatives of the Betsy Lehman Center.
Godwin holds a medical degree from the University Of Ghana Medical School and a Master of Public Health from Boston University. He is currently completing a Doctor of Public Health degree at Boston University focused on health care leadership, management and policy.
Director of Research and Analysis
617-701-8208
Julia leads the research portfolio at the Betsy Lehman Center. Projects focus on measuring the prevalence of adverse events, understanding the public perception regarding the long-term impacts of medical error and the health system response, and evaluating the effectiveness of key quality improvement initiatives.
Her previous work in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) focused on advancing the ability of healthcare systems to enact evidence based policy and clinical practice. She was the first to find a consistent relationship between longer appointment wait times for VA healthcare services and poorer patient-level satisfaction and health outcomes. In 2013, this work provided the evidence base for a change in access metrics used by the VA and helped to address the access crisis in 2014. Julia’s other research has focused on using quasi-experimental analyses of retrospective observational data to identify causal relationships between treatment and outcomes in chronic diseases, such as diabetes and atrial fibrillation.
Julia received her Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health from UCLA, where she also earned her Master of Science in Public Health. As an undergraduate, she studied biology and sociology at Grinnell College.
Research Analytics Manager
617-701-8220
Ola joined the Betsy Lehman Center’s research team as a qualitative researcher, working to understand the perspectives and experiences of a variety of stakeholders. Ola brings a commitment to health equity, inclusivity, and anti-racism to her work, and views herself as a lifelong student on these topics.
In her previous role as a project manager at Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, Ola managed the stakeholder engagement component of a measure development project. She previously worked on a team at the Education Development Center to both understand the impact of expanded gambling in Massachusetts, and design problem gambling prevention initiatives for priority populations. In addition to her public health research and prevention work, Ola also has a background in disability, having engaged in direct service and international research on disability.
Ola holds a master’s degree in applied developmental and educational psychology and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Boston College.
Program Director – Communication, Apology and Resolution (CARe)
Melinda has been working to help resolve adverse events through Communication and Resolution programs in the Commonwealth for almost ten years. She previously managed the Massachusetts Alliance for Communication and Resolution following Medical Injury (MACRMI) and led its implementation team.
She also worked as the Manager of Patient Safety at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the department Healthcare Quality where she built one of the first Communication, Apology, and Resolution (CARe) programs in the state, and was a contributor and advisor to the AHRQ’s CANDOR Toolkit.
Melinda received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University and her Master’s in Business Administration from Villanova University with a concentration in health care management. She is thrilled to be able to continue the important work of helping health care facilities resolve adverse medical events with compassion and transparency through the Betsy Lehman Center.
Senior Communications and Outreach Manager
617-701-8141
Michelle joined the Betsy Lehman Center in March 2019. In her role as communications and outreach manager, she works to promote conversations about how to improve patient safety in Massachusetts, through partnerships with health care providers, legislators, advocates and others.
Before working in patient safety, Michelle worked in communications at a nonprofit affordable housing developer that builds and rehabilitates homes for moderate- and low-income people. She also worked as a web content specialist at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, where she helped design, build and manage websites for the Office of Student Financial Assistance and the MassTransfer program.
Michelle has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
