Jennifer Tapper Joins Sepsis Alliance Board of Directors

Sepsis Alliance, the nation’s first and leading sepsis organization, is excited to announce that Jennifer Tapper has joined the Board of Directors.

Tapper is an advocacy-based fundraising, organizing, and communications professional with more than 20 years of experience fighting for equality, equity, and basic human rights for women and children.

“We are thrilled to have Jennifer join our board. She brings a wealth of knowledge, both professionally and personally, of sepsis advocacy and awareness,” said Thomas Heymann, Sepsis Alliance President and CEO. “Her passion for creating a more sepsis-safe world will help Sepsis Alliance to continue making a difference.”

Jennifer became a sepsis advocate in 2021, after her daughter, Alice, developed sepsis from an appendicitis infection.

“The doctors missed the warning signs of appendicitis and Alice was misdiagnosed. By the time she was correctly diagnosed, her appendix had ruptured, and she became septic,” Tapper said. “She almost died as a result. We want to help so this doesn’t keep happening!”

Alice made a full recovery and is working on a book about her experience, in addition to being a national advocate. Jennifer and her husband, journalist Jake Tapper, have also become national advocates for diagnostic change when it comes to appendicitis and sepsis.

In the United States, sepsis affects 1.7 million people and takes 350,000 adult lives each year (270,000 in hospital and 80,000 released to hospice).  Every year, more children in the United States die of sepsis (6,800) than of pediatric cancers. If appendicitis is left untreated, the appendix wall can burst, causing the infection to spread in the abdomen, possibly resulting in sepsis or septic shock. To learn more about sepsis and how you can help save lives, please visit www.sepsis.org.

To learn more about Jennifer Tapper, please click here. To read Alice’s story, click here.