Alan J. Card PhD

Alan Card, PhD

Alan J. Card, PhD, MPH,DFASHRM, FHEA is an Assistant Professor at the San Diego State University School of Public Health. He earned his PhD from the Engineering Design Center the University of Cambridge, where he studied in the Healthcare Design research group. He holds an MPH from the University of South Florida, as well as professional certifications in healthcare quality (CPHQ) and healthcare risk management (CPHRM) and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, as well as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

 

Dr. Card’s research interests include patient safety and well being, healthcare worker safety and well-being, psychosocial safety, and participatory intervention design for health and healthcare improvement. He is particularly interested in working to improve how organizations improve by addressing the frameworks, tools, and techniques that guide system improvement practice. His contributions in this area have included tools and “practical theories” for participatory design such as: The Process for Active Risk Control, The Active Risk Control Toolkit, the Generating Options for Active Risk Control Technique, The Lovebug Diagram, the risk curve approach for risk matrices, the bio-psychosociotechnical model, and the Digital Health Checklist–Risk Management Tool.

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  • San Diego State University, Assistant Professor (Aug 2024 – Present)
  • Patients for Patient Safety US, Champion (Mar 2025 – Present)
  • University of California, San Diego – School of Medicine, Assistant Professor – Pediatrics (Feb 2018 – Aug 2024)
  • Journal of Healthcare Risk Management, Editor (Jan 2016 – Jan 2018)
  • Evidence-Based Health Solutions, LLC, President/CEO (Oct 2007 – Oct 2017)
  • University of Notre Dame – Mendoza College of Business, Adjunct Faculty Member (2013 – 2015)
  • University of Liverpool, Honorary Lecturer (Dec 2007 – Aug 2014)
  • University of Cambridge, PhD Candidate (Oct 2009 – 2013)
  • Altarum Institute, Health Policy Analyst (Nov 2006 – Oct 2007)

    • Okamuro K, Card A, Barton HJ, Kanji FF, Trasvina V, Blumenthal J, Cohen T, Anger JT. Patient and Clinician Perspectives on Misgendering in Healthcare. BMJ Quality & Safety. Published online ahead of print: doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2024-018364.

    Cohen TN, Anger JT, Barton H, Blumenthal J, Gosman A, Kanji F, Khamisa R, Koola, J, Lewis P, Marinkovic M, Marino-Kibbee B, Moore M, Okamuro K, Sidhu S, Trasvina V, Vaida F, Card AJ. The TRANS-SAFE Patient Safety Learning Laboratory: A Protocol for Systems Improvement for Psychosocial Safety in Transgender Care. Journal of Patient Safety. Published online ahead of print: doi: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000001383.

    Sidhu S, Card A, Trasvina V, Barton H, Okamuro K, Kanji F, Cohen T, Anger JT. IP25-13 Identifying Barriers and Facilitators to Affirming Care for Adult Genderqueer and Nonbinary Patients: Patient and Clinician Perspectives. The Journal of Urology. 2025 May;213(5S):e1288.

    Brindley L, Bauer P, Card A, Crocker J, Ialongo N, Tien A. Bridging K-12 Student Mental Health Policy to Practice Gaps with a Multi-Component Framework. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. 51:1011-1019. doi.org/10.1007/s10488-024-01396-w.

    Card AJ. Patient safety 2.0: Slaying dragons, not just investigating them. Journal of Patient Safety. doi:10.1097/PTS.0000000000001140.

    Okamuro K, Blumenthal J, Card A, Cohen T, Dolendo I, Anger J. MP06-10 Transgender patient and gender affirming care provider perspectives on misgendering in healthcare. J Urol. 2023;209(Supplement 4):e56.

    Card AJ. The biopsychosociotechnical model: a systems-based framework for human-centered health improvement. Heal Syst. 2022;00(00):1-20. doi:10.1080/20476965.2022.2029584

    Card AJ. Burnout and Sources of Stress Among Healthcare Risk Managers & Patient Safety Personnel During the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Study. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. Online ahead of print 19 Apr 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2021.120.

    Card AJ. What Is Ethically Informed Risk Management? AMA Journal of Ethics. 2020;22(11):E965-975.

    Card AJ. Flourishing as a definition of health. JAMA. 2019;322(10):981. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.10343

    Holden J, Card AJ. Patient safety professionals as the third victims of adverse events. J Patient Saf Risk Manag. 2019;0(0):1-10. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/2516043519850914

    Card AJ. Physician burnout and resilience training: Solving the right problem is key. Annals of Family Medicine. 2018;16(3)267-70.

    Taylor E, Card AJ, Piatkowski M. Single-Occupancy Patient Rooms: A Systematic Review of the Literature since 2006. Health Environments Research & Design Journal. 2018;11(1)85-100.

    Card AJ. Editorial: The underlying narrative of risk management. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2017;37(2):6-7.

    Card AJ. Editorial: Learning: New avenues and new topics. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2017;37(1):7-8.

    Card AJ. Editorial: A time of uncertainty; a time to step forward. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2017;36(4):5-6.

    Card AJ. Moving Beyond the WHO Definition of Health: A New Perspective for an Aging World and the Emerging Era of Value-Based Care. World Medical & Health Policy 2017;9(1):127–37. http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/wmh3.221

    Card AJ. Editorial: Risks without walls. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2017;36(3):4-5.

    Card AJ. The problem with “5 whys”. BMJ Quality & Safety. [Published online ahead of print] doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2016-005849.

    Card AJ. Editorial: Making the invisible visible. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2016;36(2):7-8.

    Card AJ. Editorial: Organizational multimorbidity and polypharmacy. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2016;35(4):4-5.

    Card AJ. Editorial Shaping research and practice. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 35(3):7-8. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.21204/abstract

    Reed JE, Card AJ. The problem with Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. BMJ Quality & Safety. 2015;:1–6. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-005076 Available from: http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/early/2016/01/12/bmjqs-2015-005076.full

    Card AJ. Editorial: Shaping research and practice. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2016;35(3):7-8.

    Card AJ, Klein VR. A New Frontier in Healthcare Risk Management: Working to Reduce Avoidable Patient Suffering. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2016; 35(3):31-7. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.21207/abstract

    Simsekler MCE, Card AJ, Ward JR, et al. Trust-level risk identification guidance in the NHS east of England. International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine. 2015;27(2):67-76. Available from: http://content.iospress.com/articles/international-journal-of-risk-and-safety-in-medicine/jrs0651

    Simsekler ME, Card AJ, Ruggeri K, et al. A comparison of the methods used to support risk identification for patient safety in one UK NHS foundation trust. Clinical Risk. Published online ahead of print April 7, 2015. Available from: http://cri.sagepub.com/content/21/2-3/37

    Card AJ, Ward JR, Clarkson PJ. Rebalancing Risk Management -Part 2: The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2015;34(3):4-17. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.21160/abstract

    Card AJ, Simsekler MCE, Clark M, et al. Use of the Generating Options for Active Risk Control (GO-ARC) Technique Can Lead to More Robust Risk Control Options. International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine. 2014;26(4):199–211. Available from: http://content.iospress.com/articles/international-journal-of-risk-and-safety-in-medicine/jrs636

    Card AJ, Ward JR, Clarkson PJ. Rebalancing Risk Management -Part 1: The Process for Active Risk Control (PARC). Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2014;34(2):21–30. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.21155/abstract

    Card AJ. Patient Safety: This is Public Health. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2014;34(1), 6-12. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.21145/abstract

    Card AJ. The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit: A New Approach to Designing Risk Control Interventions. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2013;33(4), 5-14. Available from: http://http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.21137/full

    Card AJ, Ward JR, & Clarkson PJ. Trust-Level Risk Evaluation and Risk Control Guidance in the NHS East of England. Risk Analysis. 2013; DOI: 10.1111/risa.12159. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/risa.12159/abstract

    Card AJ. The Importance of Sleep Disorders in Assessing the Association Between Coffee Consumption and All-Cause Mortality. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2013;88(12), 1492. Available from: http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196%2813%2900880-X/abstract

    Card AJ. A New Tool for Hazard Analysis and Force Field Analysis: The Lovebug Diagram. Clinical Risk. 2013;doi: 10.1177/1356262213510855. Available from: http://cri.sagepub.com/content/19/4-5/87  [See Tools and Templates for free Lovebug Diagram templates]

    Card, AJ, Ward JR, & Clarkson PJ. Generating Options for Active Risk Control (GO-ARC): Introducing a Novel Technique. Journal for Healthcare Quality. 2013;doi: 10.1111/jhq.12017. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jhq.12017/abstract

    Card AJ, Ward JR, & Clarkson PJ. Getting to Zero: Evidence-Based Healthcare Risk Management is Key. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2012;32(2), 20-7. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.21091/abstract

    Card AJ. Pandemicity and Severity are Separate Constructs. American Journal of Public Health. 2012;102(7), e12. Available from: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300756

    Card AJ, Ward J, Clarkson PJ. Beyond FMEA: The Structured What-If Technique (SWIFT). Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2012;31(4), 23-29. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.20101/abstract

    Card AJ, Ward J, Clarkson PJ. Successful Risk Assessment May Not Always Lead To Successful Risk Control: A Systematic Literature Review of Risk Control after Root Cause Analysis. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2012;31(3), 6-12. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.20090/abstract

    Card AJ, Harrison H, Ward J, Clarkson PJ. Using Prospective Hazard Analysis to Assess an Active Shooter Emergency Operations Plan. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. 2012;31(3), 34-40. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jhrm.20095/abstract

    Card AJ. Sustainability of Public Health Programs. American Journal of Public Health. 2012;102(5), 776-777. Available from: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300498

    Card AJ. Flu vaccination prevents nosocomial outbreaks. BMJ. 2012;343, d7203. Available from: http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d7203

    Mulder I, Schikhof Y, Vastenburg M, Card A, Dunn T, Komninos A, McGee-Lennon M, Santcroos M, Tiotto G, van Gils M, van ‘t Klooster J-W, Veys A, Eslami MZ. Designing with Care: The Future of Pervasive Healthcare. IEEE Pervasive Computing. 2009;8(4), 85-88. Available from: http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/pc/2009/04/mpc2009040085-abs.html

    Car J, Ng C, Atun R, Card A. SMS Text Message Healthcare Appointment Reminders in England. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management. 2008;31(3), 216-9. Available from: http://journals.lww.com/ambulatorycaremanagement/Abstract/2008/07000/SMS_Text_Message_Healthcare_Appointment_Reminders.5.aspx