About Leilani
First things first—my first name is Hawaiian, but am is not. I was born in Montana at the tail end of winter. Andy Williams had a hit song at the time, “Sweet Leilani.” My mom liked the song a lot. Me—not so much.

For twelve years, I have worked to make compassion and transparency the accepted response to medical errors. I came to this work after my son, Gabriel died after mistakes made at two hospitals. How those two hospitals responded to me has had a profound and lasting impact on my life. One ignored my calls and letters, the second explained, apologized, and learned from Gabriel’s death, eventually offering me a job and changing the course of my career.

Before I started working in health care, I was on an artistic path. Even as a young child, I was attentive to color. In early spring, I wandered through the sage brush of Northern Nevada, looking for the first violets—spotting the purple petals among orange rocks. I have carried a fascination with color and nature through my life.

I studied Architecture and Graphic Design at Montana State University in Bozeman. There I learned the importance of combining work ethic and technical planning with creativity, and kept an eye on nature for inspiration and example. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, I worked as a graphic designer for corporations and ad agencies.

In 2011, I started working with Stanford Medicine. I was fundamental in the creation and implementation of their Communication and Resolution Program, PEARL. In my role, I navigated between the often insular, legal and administrative sides of medical error; and the intricate, emotional side of the patient, family and clinician experience.

In 2013, I gave a TedX talk, “Transparency, Compassion and Truth in Medical Errors,” having no idea it would change my life. Because of that talk, I have delivered keynote talks around the globe, including on behalf of the Institute for Health Improvement in Doha, Qatar; the Institute for Patient and Family Centered Care in Vancouver, Canada, as well as, many other health care institutions including, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and the American Medical Association.

My work with patients, families, care providers and attorneys has given me a unique view of the importance and complex realities of disclosure and transparency. My work has been discussed in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and on CNN.com. I have been featured on the Ted Radio Hour and RadioLab podcasts. My TedX talk about the need for transparency and compassion in healthcare has been viewed more than 210,000 times and is used in physician and nursing curricula around the world.

I am currently a member of the Expert Technical Panel for AHRQ, and the Board resident of the Collaborative for Accountability & Improvement at the University of Washington, and serve on the Patient Safety Advisory Board for Philips Healthcare.

While having a day job in healthcare, I did not lose my creative and artistic tendencies. I often have commissioned art pieces in progress in my studio. My focus has been on large scale kinetic sculptures that are hung in healthcare settings around the US. I created my first kinetic sculpture when I was in the depth of grief after the death of my son. The tedious action of cutting paper squares with the sound of the slicing blade was melodic, hypnotizing and harmonizing. Somehow, that process and the creativity that followed, helped metabolize my grief. More recently, I have returned to my love of watercolor painting, it brings me a lot of joy.