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Kelsey Lawson named senior vice president and chief safety & risk officer of Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health

Villanova, PA – May 10, 2022 – Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, one of the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit providers of behavioral healthcare, today announced the appointment of Kelsey Lawson, JD, to the newly created position of senior vice president and chief safety and risk officer.

In this role, Lawson will lead Devereux’s enterprise-wide client safety, risk management and quality improvement activities, ensuring the highest levels of oversight and accountability across the organization’s geographic footprint, spanning 13 states. Specifically, she will be responsible for continuing to advance Devereux’s enterprise risk management and mitigation programs. Lawson also will oversee the organization’s national Quality Improvement function and Executive Risk Management.

“Devereux is firmly rooted in a continuous quality improvement mindset. We are focused every day on meeting the promise of our Devereux Family Standard – upholding the trust placed in us by the individuals we serve, and their families,” said President and CEO Carl E. Clark II. “Previously, our many and comprehensive safety and risk management initiatives have been overseen by a team of leaders. The new position of Chief Safety and Risk Officer ensures strong, centralized oversight of these critical organizational priorities.”

Clark added, “Following an exhaustive national search, we are thrilled to have Ms. Lawson join our senior team in this pivotal new role. Her impressive credentials and extensive leadership experience in healthcare quality, safety and risk management efforts make her the ideal selection. She will be an outstanding and powerful advocate for the individuals in our care, as she shares our belief that meaningful, continuous quality and safety improvements in the behavioral healthcare field require tireless focus and complete commitment. By taking a holistic, system-based approach, under centralized, best-in-class leadership, Devereux will continue to make significant advances, leading the field in program quality and safety.”

About Kelsey Lawson, JD

As Devereux’s senior vice president and chief safety and risk officer, Kelsey Lawson, JD, brings nearly two decades of senior leadership-level legal and risk management experience in the healthcare industry to this new position.

Prior to joining Devereux, Lawson was the chief compliance and risk officer at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, where she oversaw the development and implementation of the health system’s corporate compliance program, internal audit, and enterprise risk management. She also served as chief compliance officer at North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale, Minn.; associate general counsel for the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis; attorney and consultant for Halleland Habicht, PA and Consulting in Minneapolis; and patient safety and risk officer at St. Peter’s Hospital in Helena, Mont.

Lawson has earned the following degrees: Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School, and a Master of Science in Health Services Research, Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota Graduate School of Public Health. She is a licensed attorney in Minnesota and Montana. Lawson is a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Health Law Section Council and the Health Care Compliance Association. She has presented nationally on healthcare compliance issues and topics.

About Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health

Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations providing services, insight and leadership in the evolving field of behavioral healthcare. Founded in 1912 by special education pioneer Helena Devereux, the organization operates a comprehensive national network of clinical, therapeutic, educational, and employment programs and services that positively impact the lives of tens of thousands of children, adults – and their families – every year. Focused on clinical advances emerging from a new understanding of the brain, its unique approach combines evidence-based interventions with compassionate family engagement.

With more than 7,500 employees working in programs across the nation, Devereux is a recognized partner for families, schools and communities, serving many of our country’s most vulnerable populations in the areas of autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, specialty mental health, education and child welfare. Programs are offered in hospital, residential, community and school-based settings. They include: assessments; interventions and support; transition and independent life services; family and professional training; research and innovation; and advocacy and public education. For more than a century, Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health has been guided by a simple and enduring mission: To change lives by unlocking and nurturing human potential for people living with emotional, behavioral or cognitive differences. www.devereux.org.

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