AHA

Thought Leaders

Jim O'Brien, MD, MSc
Medical Director of Quality & Patient Safety
Riverside Methodist Hospital

+Bio

Jim O’Brien, MD, MSc, serves as the Medical Director of Quality and Patient Safety at Riverside Methodist Hospital, a 600-bed community teaching hospital in Columbus, OH. Dr. O'Brien received his medical degree from The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1996 and completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine in 1999. He served as the Chief Medical Resident for OSU from 1999-2000. He completed a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver in 2003 where he received a Masters in Health Services Research and Clinical Investigation. He served on faculty at OSU in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine from 2004-2012, leaving as an associate professor to assume his current position.

Dr. O’Brien has written papers on a wide variety of topics involving critically ill adults, including those with sepsis. He has been a participating investigator in a number of studies of critically ill patients, including novel therapeutics for sepsis. He was also funded by the National Institutes of Health to examine the effect of obesity on outcomes for patients on ventilators. He has co-authored the guidelines for management of septic patients and has led initiatives to improve care delivery, including more timely antibiotic administration.

 

Pamela L. Popp, MA JD
Manager, WLI Risk Consulting Practice
Western Litigation

+Bio

Pamela L. Popp, MA JD has managed, and internalized, some of the largest health care liability claims programs nationally. She has served in risk and claims management consulting roles on the brokerage sides as well as in-house with several large malpractice carriers. In her current role, Pamela manages the WLI Risk Consulting Practice, working with self-insured clients to identify, mitigate and prevent risks, enhance the patient experience and educate providers on the strengths of disclosure and apology programs.

Throughout her career, Pamela has been very involved in risk management organizations at the local, state and national level. She served as the President of ASHRM in 2005 as well as a two term President of the American Hospital Associations’ Certification Center (which develops and administers the CPHRM). Pamela served as President of the Board of Directors for the International Center for Captive Insurance Education (ICCIE), as well as faculty, and currently serves on various committees of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) and Physician Hospitals of America (PHA).

Pamela received her juris doctorate from St. Louis University and her dual Masters in Health System Management/Legal Studies from Webster University. She has earned the Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CHPHRM) certification, the Associate in Management (AIM) and is a Distinguished Fellow with the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM). In 2007 Pamela was awarded the Distinguished Service Award, only the 13th recipient in ASHRM’s 35 year history.

Tara Crockett, RN, BN, CHSE, Alumnus CCRN
Director of Clinical Delivery
Medical Simulation Corporation (MSC)

+Bio

Tara Crockett, RN, BN, CHSE, Alumnus CCRN received her Bachelor of Nursing degree in 1994. Her primary clinical area of expertise is critical care and advanced hemodynamics. Tara joined MSC in 2009 as a Clinical Development Specialist. In that role she was responsible for the development of many of the existing MSC Advanced Clinical Quality Solution program, which is comprised of online didactic and hands-on simulation training.

In 2013, Tara became the Director of Clinical Delivery and is responsible for the planning, coordination and delivery of MSC’s Advanced Clinical Quality Programs.

Tara has traveled throughout the United States and Europe facilitating evidenced-based simulation training for physicians and nurses and achieved her Certification in Healthcare Simulation Education in 2013.