Dr. Morgenthaler is the Chief Patient Safety Officer for the Mayo Clinic, serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Mayo Clinic, and is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. He is a past President of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and is the chair of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Task Force of the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Program—a joint project of the CDC, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and the Sleep Research Society. Dr. Morgenthaler has been at Mayo Clinic since 2000. He received his Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his MD from Dartmouth Medical School. He currently serves as a Director of the Minnesota Alliance for Patient Safety and for Mercy Health.
Vonda Vaden Bates added patient safety to her speaking topics and consultancy focus after extensively researching how her husband, Yogiraj Charles Bates, died from the most common preventable cause of hospital death, HA-VTE (Hospital Associated-Venous Thromboembolism.) Stalled attempts to engage the hospital redirected Vonda’s attention to patient safety everywhere. Aiming to avoid similar outcomes for other patients and providers, she compassionately sheds light on the impact opaque hospital cultures have upon grieving families. Advocating every player in the care arena, Vonda brings 20+ years of professional success to influence advancements in patient safety. She is the Sr. Trainer and Facilitator for 10th Dot Transformations®.
Brandyn Lau is an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Health Sciences Informatics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Associate Faculty in the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. His primary research interest is in the use of electronic health record data to improve care quality, patient safety, and clinical education. Clinically, the majority of his effort focuses on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE). He has authored or co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, and has received more than $5 million in extramural research funding to study and improve the use of health information technology for quality improvement in hospitals.
Dr. Michael Ramsay is the organization’s Chief Executive Officer, having been previously appointed Chairman of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, taking Joe Kiani’s place in 2020. In addition, he sits on the PSMF’s Board of Directors and serves as the Chair of the “Failure to Rescue: Post-Operative Respiratory Depression” workgroup.
Dr. Ramsay also currently holds the title of Chairman Emeritus of the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and serves as a member of the Baylor University Medical Center Board of Trustees. He is Past Director of Anesthesia for the liver transplant program at Baylor and has personally provided anesthesia for over 1,000 liver transplant recipients. Dr. Ramsay is also Past President of the International Liver Transplantation Society and previously was an at-large delegate to the United Network for Organ Sharing, Dr. Ramsay is a professor at Texas A & M Health Science Center and holds a clinical professorship in anesthesiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
Dr. Ramsay developed the first Sedation Scale, a measurement designed to interpret the depth of sedation for patients in the critical care unit. This scale was adopted around the world. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and numerous chapters in textbooks.
As President of Baylor Scott & White Research Institute (BSWRI) from 2000 to 2020, Dr. Ramsay directed clinically relevant research efforts. While with the organization, he developed a successful infrastructure that increased the number of clinical trials from 250 to more than 2,000 active trials. He also executed a multimillion-dollar collaboration agreement with Roche pharma that supported very early research projects and accelerated their completion. This pilot project has since been replicated at many academic centers around the world.
Dr. Ramsay is currently a Study Monitor of several clinical trials to improve the outcomes of brain trauma victims.
