Panelist Bios - Silent Treatment

Panelist Bios
David Maxfield
Vice President of Research, VitalSmarts, and lead researcher, The Silent Treatment
For more than twenty years, David Maxfield has led high-leverage research
initiatives that uncover causes of and solutions to managerial, cultural and
operational inefficiencies that directly affect the organizational bottom line.
David’s career began with his doctoral work in psychology at Stanford
University. Since then, his impact on organizational performance has been
wide-reaching as he’s helped clients such as General Mills, Harvard Medical
School, Pizza Hut, and Spectrum Health increase organizational effectiveness
and become measurably more vital.
Cutting-Edge Researcher
Currently, David is the vice president of research at VitalSmarts, an innovative corporate
training company that teaches skills which deliver significant improvements to the results
companies care about most. In the past thirty years, VitalSmarts has helped thousands of
organizations, including more than three hundred of the Fortune 500, realize widespread
and lasting results through its award-winning training programs. Named the 2008
Business of the Year by The Association of Learning Providers, VitalSmarts has also been
ranked four times by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in America
and has trained 600,000 people worldwide.
As vice president of research, David has led a series of research projects on a variety of
subjects including the role crucial conversations play in the health-care industry, and how
the ongoing failure rate within enterprise projects is consistently linked to the avoidance
of a few key crucial conversations. David has also led research projects about diversity,
leadership, and influence.
Bestselling Author and Award-Winning Teacher
David is also the coauthor of The New York Times bestseller Influencer: The Power to
Change Anything. His second book, Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success,
is scheduled for release in the spring of 2011.
Brent C. James, M.D., M.Stat.
Linda Groah, RN, MSN, CNOR, CNAA, FAAN
Chief Quality Officer, Executive Director, Institute For Health Care Delivery Research,
Intermountain Healthcare
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
Brent James is known internationally for his work in clinical quality
improvement, patient safety, and the infrastructure that underlies successful
improvement efforts, such as culture change, data systems, payment methods,
and management roles. He is a member of the National Academy of Science’s
Institute of Medicine and has participated in many of that organization’s
seminal works on quality and patient safety.
He is the Chief Quality Officer and Executive Director of the Institute for Health Care
Delivery Research at Intermountain Healthcare, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. James holds
faculty appointments at the University of Utah School of Medicine (Family Medicine and
Biomedical Informatics), Harvard School of Public Health (Health Policy and Management),
and the University of Sydney, Australia, School of Public Health.
Through the Intermountain Advanced Training Program in Clinical Practice Improvement
(ATP), James has trained more than 3,500 senior physician, nursing, and administrative
executives from around the world in clinical management methods with proven improvement
results (and more than 30 “daughter” training programs in 6 countries). Before coming to
Intermountain Healthcare, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics
at the Harvard School of Public Health where he provided statistical support for the Eastern
Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG). He also staffed the American College of Surgeons’
Commission on Cancer.
James holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science/Electrical Engineering and
Medical Biology; an M.D. degree with residency training in general surgery and oncology;
and a Master of Statistics degree.
James serves on several non-profit boards of trustees, dedicated to clinical improvement.
He is a member of a number of national taskforces and committees that examine health
care quality and cost control, including AHRQ and his most recent appointment by the
Federal Comptroller to an advisory group on making American health care more accessible
and affordable. In 2005, James also received an award from the National Committee for
Quality Assurance (NCQA) recognizing his vision and energy in making the U.S. health care
system better.
Linda K. Groah, RN, MSN, CNOR, CNAA, FAAN, has been the CEO and
executive director of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses
(AORN) since March 2007.
A veteran perioperative nursing executive, Linda has devoted her career to perioperative
nursing practice, education and executive management. Her previous professional positions
include international health care consultant, chief operating officer of Kaiser Foundation
Hospital in San Francisco, Calif, nurse executive for Kaiser Foundation Hospital-San
Francisco and Kaiser Foundation Hospital-South San Francisco, Calif; director of nursing
OR-PACU-Surgery Center at the University of California, San Francisco Hospitals and
Clinics; and OR director at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon, Ga.
Throughout her career, Linda has focused on improving patient safety. At Kaiser PermanenteSan Francisco, she introduced and piloted several patient safety initiatives including
walking rounds for administration and the implementation of the “Just Culture” concept, an
environment where actions are analyzed to ensure that individual accountability is established
and appropriate actions are taken. “Just Culture” is now a national health care standard.
Linda authored the first textbook in the U.S. to include perioperative nursing roles and
functions. The innovative nursing roles of nurses in the operating room were piloted and
tested at the University of California, San Francisco and have been replicated in clinical
ladders concepts across the country. She has authored numerous articles for trade journals
and textbooks on subjects ranging from clinical perioperative nursing, to administrative
issues in management and leadership in health care and nursing.
Awarded AORN’s Award for Excellence in Perioperative Nursing in 1989, Linda was
inducted in 2000 as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. In 2005, she received
Nursing Spectrum magazine’s California and U.S. Nursing Excellence Award for Leadership.
In 2006, she was named one of San Francisco’s 100 most influential women in business.
Linda is currently the treasurer for the Nursing Organization Alliance, on the Board of
Directors of the Nursing Alliance for Quality Care and is Chair of the Bylaws Committee for
the American Academy of Nursing.
Dorrie Fontaine, RN, PhD, FAAN
Ramón Lavandero, RN, MA, MSN, FAAN
Dean and Professor, University of Virginia School of Nursing
Director of Communications and Strategic Alliances, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
A passion for critical-care nursing underlies the distinguished career of Dorrie
Fontaine, RN, PhD, FAAN, as clinician, scholar, researcher, educator and
professional leader.
Ramón Lavandero is director of communications and strategic alliances for the
American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), and clinical associate
professor at Yale University School of Nursing.
Since coming to the University of Virginia School of Nursing as Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor
of Nursing and Dean, Dr. Fontaine has implemented Appreciative Inquiry methodology as the
basis for the School’s strategic planning and launched an interdisciplinary process to create
a transformational model to provide compassionate end-of-life care across the health care
spectrum. In addition, she has been a strong advocate for inter-professional education, engaging
both medical and nursing students in collaboration with the Dean of the School of Medicine.
An individual membership association with more than 87,000 members, AACN is the
world’s largest specialty nursing organization. Lavandero serves on the six-person executive
team at the association’s national office in Aliso Viejo, Calif. His team is accountable for
corporate communications, publishing, strategic alliances, philanthropic fundraising and
member recognition.
Prior to her 2008 appointment at UVA, Dr. Fontaine was associate dean for academic programs
and clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Before coming to UCSF, Dr.
Fontaine held associate dean positions and taught at Georgetown University School of Nursing.
From 2003 to 2004, she served as president of the American Association of Critical-Care
Nurses (AACN), the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. That association
recognized her contributions with its Lifetime Member Award.
Dr. Fontaine’s teaching has centered on issues related to critical-care, including sleep
promotion, pain relief and family presence at the end of life. Most recently, she has
investigated strategies to promote nursing education partnerships, diversity and interprofessional education in university settings. Her priorities as dean at UVA include continued
work in promoting healthy workplace environments, building more inter-professional
collaborations and increasing diversity in both the faculty and student populations.
Dorrie Fontaine was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 1995, has received
the Presidential Citation from the Society of Critical Care Medicine and is a member of the
Sigma Theta Tau nursing honor society. Her alma mater, Villanova University, honored her
with a Medallion for Contributions to the Profession in 1999.
Dr. Fontaine received her bachelor of science degree in nursing from Villanova University, a
master’s degree from the University of Maryland, and her PhD from the Catholic University
of America in Washington, DC. In 2006, she completed a Management and Leadership in
Education Program at the Harvard Graduate Institute of Higher Education.
A native of San Jan, Puerto Rico, Lavandero served as a consultant in nursing care
delivery, education and administration at hospitals and nursing schools in Argentina, Brazil,
Colombia, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. Through the American International Health
Alliance, he participated in leadership development initiatives for national nursing and
health services officials from countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Lavandero received a bachelor’s degree in nursing, a master’s degree in adult education
from Columbia University and a master’s degree in nursing from Yale University. A fellow
of the American Academy of Nursing, he was the first nurse to participate in the Hispanic
Leadership Fellows program sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Higher Education,
in collaboration with the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the American Council on
Education. He holds membership in AACN, American Nurses Association, American Society
of Association Executives, the Honor Society of Nursing Sigma Theta Tau International and
the Medical Society Fundraising Network.