Pat Folcarelli, RN, MA, PhD, is the Sr. Vice President for Patient Care Services and the Cynthia and Robert J. Lepofsky Chief Nursing Officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  Dr. Folcarelli worked in various roles at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) for more than 30 years, both in nursing leadership roles and in the area of patient safety and health care quality, finally serving as the Vice President for Health Care Quality. Pat also served as the Vice President for Patient Safety at CRICO, the malpractice insurance captive for the 35 Harvard-affiliated institutions, from 2020 - 2023. In her CRICO role, Pat assisted with strategic and operational patient safety solutions.

Pat is a part-time lecturer in Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and, for the past 7 years, has co-directed a course on Patient and Family Engagement in Quality and Safety for the master’s in healthcare quality and safety at HMS. 

Pat received her BS in Nursing from Hunter College of the City University of NY and earned both her M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University. 

Pat is also the former Co-Chair of MACRMI (the Massachusetts Alliance for Communication and Resolution Following Medical Injury) and MITSS (Medically Induced Trauma Support Services), both of which are now a part of the Betsy Lehman Center. She has also served on the Board of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors and is a past president of the Massachusetts Society for Healthcare Risk Management. Pat serves on the Quality Committee of the Board for Mercy; the Patient Quality and Safety Committee of the Board for Baystate Health, as well as serving on the Board of Emmanuel College in Boston.