May-Lynn Andresen, DNP, RN

Dr. May-Lynn Andresen is EVP of QHC Advisory Group, which provides strategic consultative services across the broad community of healthcare. Her career has spanned critical care, quality improvement; clinical research; advocacy for the underserved; patient, professional, community education/outreach; project development; and strategic planning with clinical emphases in cardiology, behavioral health, developmental disabilities, and autism. She held leadership roles within Northwell Health’s hospital and ambulatory settings and in nonprofits. She founded innovative programs for the purpose of improving lives and bridging gaps in care/services. She is co-founder and former director of Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities (interdisciplinary autism center of excellence)  and Westbrook Preparatory School (first NY State residential school for adolescent students with high functioning Autism/Asperger syndrome). Her doctoral training at the University of Minnesota was in health innovation, focused on human-centered design and partnership.  Her passion lies in full inclusion, engagement, and activation of patients/individuals/care partners, particularly the disadvantaged and under-heard. She served on the National Quality Forum’s Readmission Task Force, the Brigham and Women’s/Harvard Workgroup on Health Literacy Resources for Clinical Research, the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Planning Committee for the 2018 Roundtable on Health Literacy and Behavioral Health, and the Community Council of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) AASET Project (Autistic Adults and other Stakeholders Engage Together) which is focused on raising the voice of the autistic community in guiding the future direction of physical and mental health care services.