Communications & Patient Initiatives Director
Liz Salmi is the Communications & Patient Initiatives Director for OpenNotes. In this role, Liz helps clinicians, hospitals and health systems understand through “the patient’s eyes” the changing nature of patient-clinician communication in an age of growing transparency. Her research areas of interest include: the effects of transparency on patient-clinician communication, stakeholder engagement, research dissemination, and the role of social media in patient-clinician-researcher collaborations.
As a person living with a low grade malignant brain tumor, Liz is passionate about helping all people engage in their own health care by improving their experience as patients. Over the last 17 years she has been: a research subject; an advisor in patient stakeholder groups; a leader in “patient engagement” research initiatives; and an innovator, educator and investigator in national educational and research projects.
In addition to her work with OpenNotes, Liz led the Brain Cancer Quality of Life Collaborative, a multi-stakeholder group dedicated to advancing science and improving the quality of life for people with malignant brain tumors. In fall 2021, members of the BCQoLC team (along with established investigators), were awarded a $12.8 million Center Grant from the National Cancer Institute to determine optimal methods for patient enrollment in a brain tumor registry.
Liz is carving a novel path for non-traditional/patient-researchers and those who want to work with them in academe. She is among a few individuals to have received a PCORI award without institutional support as a “patient PI.” She was commissioned to publish the first “Step-By-Step Guide to Peer Review,” by BMJ Health & Care Informatics, a template to be used by patients and other novice peer reviewers.
Liz has been recognized by the Society for Participatory Medicine, BMJ, and the Society for Neuro-Oncology for pioneering opportunities for non-traditional researchers and advancing patient engagement in clinical research. Her interests include clinical informatics, citizen science, and human-centered design.
X: @TheLizArmy
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lizsalmi
