Catriona Macdonald Joins Sepsis Alliance Board of Directors

November 20, 2017

Federal legislative policy, strategy, and advocacy executive Catriona Macdonald joins the Board of Directors of Sepsis Alliance, the nation’s leading patient advocacy organization promoting sepsis awareness.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – Sepsis Alliance, the nation’s leading patient advocacy organization promoting sepsis awareness, announced that Catriona Macdonald has joined its Board of Directors. Catriona is the Founder and President of Linchpin Strategies, which assists clients in the areas of health, education, and disability to communicate their priorities and needs to audiences at all levels of government. In 2014, National Journal recognized Linchpin as one of the top women-owned government relations firms in the DC area.

“Catriona is going to be an invaluable asset to our Board of Directors,” said Thomas Heymann, President and Executive Director of Sepsis Alliance. “Her extensive experience in Washington will help as we work to bring more awareness to sepsis protocols on the national level. We are grateful she has accepted the position on our Board, and look forward to advancing Sepsis Alliance’s mission together.

Ms. Macdonald received her B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. Her experience includes working on Capitol Hill for Senator Edward Kennedy on the Senate Labor Committee. She also staffed domestic social issue and appropriations for Congressman Steny Hoyer, the current House Minority Whip, and served as the Legislative Director for Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, the current Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. Within the executive branch, she worked as a budget and policy analyst in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget at the US Department of Health and Human Services.

“Over the last ten years, Sepsis Alliance has tripled awareness in the United States of this catastrophic over-response to infection,” said Macdonald, “but there is an important role for government to fulfill in educating medical professionals, patients, and their families. I look forward to bringing my knowledge of the workings of Capitol Hill and federal agencies to bear to help save lives, and to reduce the burden of sepsis on patients and their families.”

Sepsis is a medical emergency that occurs when the body’s response to infection begins to injure its own tissues and organs. It is estimate that 258,000 people in the U.S. die every year from sepsis, a preventable condition requiring early diagnosis and rapid treatment.

 

About Sepsis Alliance

Sepsis Alliance is the nation’s leading sepsis advocacy organization, dedicated to saving lives by raising awareness of sepsis as a medical emergency. A 501(c)(3) organization, Sepsis Alliance was founded by Dr. Carl Flatley after the sudden, unnecessary death of his daughter Erin to a disease he had never even heard of. Sepsis Alliance produces and distributes educational materials for patients, families and health providers on sepsis prevention, early recognition and treatment. The organization also offers support to patients, sepsis survivors, and family members through its sepsis.org website which receives more than 1.5 million visits each year. The organization founded Sepsis Awareness Month in 2011, and works with partners to host community outreach events across North America. Since Sepsis Alliance began its mission, sepsis awareness has increased threefold, from 19% to 58%. For more information on Sepsis Alliance, a GuideStar Gold-rated charity, please visit https://www.sepsis.org/.