Helen Haskell

Mothers Against Medical Error is a network of patients and patient safety advocates specializing in education for patients and support for those who have suffered medical injury. Since 2002, MAME has worked to promote collaboration in the consumer patient safety community and has served as an advocate for policies to promote a transparent, patient-centered healthcare system that includes full disclosure and reconciliation following medical harm.

Helen Haskell is founder and president of Mothers Against Medical Error. For Helen, patient safety is a calling to which she was brought by the death of her fifteen-year-old son Lewis, who died from preventable errors in a South Carolina teaching hospital.  In 2005, Helen helped put together a coalition of patients, policymakers, and healthcare providers to pass the Lewis Blackman Patient Safety Act, the first of several South Carolina legislative initiatives addressing healthcare safety and transparency.  In 2007, the state of South Carolina created the Lewis Blackman Chair of Patient Safety and Clinical Effectiveness, an endowed professorship named in honor of her deceased son.

Helen and MAME are actively involved in statewide patient safety and quality improvement efforts in South Carolina.  MAME also collaborates on a national and international level with other consumer and professional organizations on patient-oriented quality improvement programs, including infection disclosure and prevention, patient-activated rapid response systems, and disclosure of medical error, among others.

Dr. Julia Hallisy

Dr. Julia Hallisy obtained her BS in Biological Science from the University of San Francisco in 1984 and a second Bachelor’s degree from the University of California in Dental Sciences. In 1988, Dr. Hallisy also received her Doctorate in Dental Surgery from the University of California at San Francisco School of Dentistry. Since then, she has been in continuous private practice in San Francisco, California. 

Her second child, Katherine Eileen, was diagnosed at five months of age with bilateral retinoblastoma. Dealing with her daughter’s life-threatening diagnosis, the many recurrences of cancer, and the subsequent treatments for the malignant and aggressive tumors marked the beginning an almost 20-year involvement in our healthcare system. The unique combination of her scientific training, her work as a healthcare provider, and guiding a child through a chronic illness has afforded her invaluable insight as an advocate for patients.

Dr. Hallisy began to research the topic of patient safety in 1998 and has worked with the California Nurses Association on the proposition 216 campaign for HMO reform. She has spoken at rallies with Ralph Nader and provided testimony at San Francisco City Hall at the request of Senator Barbara Boxer to promote the passage of legislation for a Patients’ Bill of Rights. In 2002, Dr. Hallisy spoke before the California State Senate on the issue of Futile Care policies. In 2006, Dr. Hallisy was a recipient of a scholarship from the National Patient Safety Foundation to attend their annual national congress as a consumer advocate. Dr. Hallisy most recently worked with AARP on a patient advocate journal and has lobbied for health care reform in Washington, DC with Consumer’s Union.

Dr. Hallisy is committed to and passionate about the subjects of patient safety, health care reform and medical error reduction. Her personal and professional goals include working diligently to help give patients a voice in healthcare solutions.

Dr. Hallisy was born and raised in San Francisco, where she lives with her husband, John Hallisy, and their two sons, Daniel and Kevin. The Hallisy’s ten-year old daughter, Kate, lost her life-long battle with cancer in February 2000.