Erin Lawler-Hart, M.S., C.P.P.S

Associate Director, Office of Quality and Patient Safety

Human Factors Engineer

Erin Lawler-Hart is the Associate Director in the Office of Quality and Patient Safety in the Division of Healthcare Quality Evaluation and Improvement and is also the Enterprise Human Factors Engineer. Ms. Lawler-Hart manages the activities associated with The Joint Commission’s review and response to patient safety complaints and sentinel events and its activities surrounding the management and sharing of data and information regarding such events. As Human Factors Engineer, Ms. Lawler-Hart supports the division and enterprise-wide need for knowledge and expertise in human factors and ergonomics related to health care. She provides education and consultation on human factors analysis in incident investigations, process improvement, and the development of sustainable interventions.

Prior to joining The Joint Commission, Ms. Lawler-Hart served as the Human Factors Engineer for the Department of Defense Patient Safety and Analysis Center where she provided human factors consultation and data analysis. She also designed patient safety curricula in systems thinking and human factors, performing root cause analyses and proactive risk assessment, and understanding harm classification.  

Ms. Lawler-Hart earned her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Sociology from Oklahoma State University, and her Master of Science degree in Human Factors and Ergonomics from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.