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Melissa McClay, MPH, CPHRM, CPPS is the Director of Patient Safety and Risk Management for MaineHealth Maine Medical Center (a multi campus medical center with 929 licensed beds). She has worked in the field of patient safety since 1999, beginning as an Administrative Associate in the Quality Improvement and Risk Management Department at Boston Children’s Hospital. She advanced to a Patient Safety Specialist role, and helped coordinate the implementation of Patient Safety Leadership WalkRounds at that organization. After moving to Southern Maine, Melissa continued to gain experience as a Risk Manager and Patient Safety Director for a community hospital system, where she led initiatives to enhance the culture of safety through the use of Just Culture tools, the development of a patient safety orientation program for new leaders and providers, and organization wide TeamSTEPPS training. 

Melissa received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Vermont, and received a Master of Public Health degree from the Boston University School of Public Health. In addition to being a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM) and a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS), Melissa has also received certifications in Lean Six Sigma and Project Management. She is a Patient Safety faculty member for the MaineHealth Hannaford Center for Safety, Innovation & Simulation, and has served as a Risk Management Mentor for the Northern New England Society for Healthcare Risk Management since 2022. 

Dr. John Hertig is Founder of ‘Hertig Healthcare Advising’ and Adjunct Faculty at Purdue University (Indianapolis, USA). Dr. Hertig lectures around the world and publishes on a variety of patient safety, leadership, administration, and health policy topics. He serves as an Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Medicine Access, and his extensive research program is designed to enhance the safety of the medication use process, while using evidence to inform patient advocacy efforts.  

Dr. Hertig is a Member of the United States Food and Drug Administration Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee. He holds other national and international appointments, including with the International Pharmaceutical Federation, where he is Treasurer for the Hospital Pharmacy Section, and as Past-President of the Board of Directors for the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies – Global (ASOP), where he leads efforts to reduce the patient safety impact of illegal and counterfeit online drug distribution worldwide.  

He was awarded the ASOP Global Patient Safety Champion Award in 2018. Dr. Hertig received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from Purdue University (USA). He completed a PGY1 pharmacy practice and PGY2 health-system pharmacy administration residency at The Ohio State University Medical Center while also obtaining a Masters degree in Health-System Pharmacy Administration from The Ohio State University (USA). 

He is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS), a Fellow of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (FASHP), and a Fellow of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FFIP). 

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Sheri Herner, PharmD, MHSA, BCPS, FCCP, CPPS is a Medication Safety and Quality Coordinator at Kaiser Permanente Colorado, and she supports patient safety initiatives across the Kaiser Permanente program.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Toledo, completed a Family Medicine Specialty Pharmacy Residency at St. Louis College of Pharmacy, and earned a Master of Science in Health Services Administration and a graduate certificate in Quality and Patient Safety from Regis University.  Dr. Herner also holds a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma methodology. She possesses faculty appointments at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Regis University School of Pharmacy. She has practiced in academic, ambulatory care, and inpatient settings. Dr. Herner’s areas of interest include culture of safety, safety event reporting, and process improvement.  She has published peer-reviewed articles and presented on topics related to patient safety, risk management, safety culture, clinical informatics, and medication safety.