Tiffany Christensen
- "Sick Girls Speaks"
- Professional Patient Advocate
- Lifelong CF/Transplant Patient
Travels From
North Carolina
Tiffany Christensen Speaker Biography
Tiffany Christensen is changing the conversation in healthcare. She approaches her work from the perspective of a cystic fibrosis patient who has received 2 double lung transplants, a professional patient advocate and Experience Professional. In her current role as Vice President, Experience Innovation at The Beryl Institute, Tiffany serves as a focused innovator working to share global practices and reinforce the need to understand “Patient Experience” as a practice, not just an outcome.
As a keynote speaker, Tiffany weaves together her patient story and professional experience with reflections on the paradoxical nature of illness and medicine. Her insights create connections within all human experiences of healthcare; bridging the perceived gaps between safety, quality, and experience. In addition to presentations, Tiffany is also passionate about helping organizations assess the current state of their Experience Framework using the 8 Strategic Lenses. Maximizing the Experience Framework is done through human-centered design workshops and other on-site opportunities.
In her past roles, Christensen served as the Oncology Patient Advocate at Duke Hospital. During this time, she also worked as the Program Coordinator for Duke Medicine’s Patient Advisor Expansion Program. After leaving Duke, she was the Performance Improvement Specialist at the NC Hospital Association working on operationalizing PFE within critical access hospitals, major academic medical centers and health systems of many sizes in between.
Tiffany is a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer, a Respecting Choices Advance Care Planning Instructor, an APPEAL certificate recipient, and the creator of her own Train the Trainer workshop series entitled "Finding Your Voice in the Healthcare Maze.” Christensen is also the author of three books exploring advocacy, end of life planning and partnership strategies in healthcare.
Dr. Don Berwick said of Christensen, “Tiffany is a change agent and one we badly, badly need.” It is a rare speaker who has experienced “both sides of the bed” and can so clearly articulate the complexities and opportunities for both improvement and joy in healthcare.
Fingerprints of Experience: The Paradoxical Truths of Healthcare
Throughout Tiffany Christensen’s personal journey with illness and as a professional patient advocate, she has found the most profound lessons come during moments of paradoxical truths. Using these moments as the backdrop for this thought-provoking keynote, Christensen shares key research from The Beryl Institute to help professionals focus their efforts within the “8 Strategic Lenses of Experience.” Participants will gain insight into how Human-Centered Design in healthcare will “operationalize compassion” and “practicing experience” will transform healthcare for everyone.
Partnering with Patients: A Bed’s Eye View of Safety
Tiffany Christensen uses her unique perspective of both a lifelong patient and a healthcare professional as the backdrop for this dynamic keynote. In addition to her personal story, Christensen addresses why Patient and Family Engagement doesn’t always work, the power of patient activation and the approach to creating safer, more reliable care environments through shared language. Participants walk away with practical, innovative tactics ready to put into action.
Growing Up Dying: Shifting the Pediatric Paradigm
In this keynote, Christensen uses her reflections of a life filled with illness to provide a rare glimpse into the heart and mind of a pediatric patient navigating our complicated healthcare systems. Christensen deconstructs misconceptions about an authentic partnership in healthcare and inspires participants to take new approaches in caring for young patients and their loved ones. Learning more about the internal life of a child growing up “dying” may just change the way you practice.
