Handling With Care

Lisa Havens ’84 is a nurse, veteran, attorney and chief risk officer for one of the largest health care systems in the United States — a system that cares for more Texans than any other.

Her journey was born from a setback.

As a high school sophomore, Havens applied to a nurse’s aide program at a joint vocational high school in her hometown of Springfield, Ohio. The program offered students the opportunity to learn a trade during their final two years of high school, and Havens was eager to pursue a career as a nurse’s aide. 

She was rejected — and surprised. In junior high, Havens had worked as an aide for an elderly neighbor who was bedridden, providing care at night so that the woman’s husband could sleep. At church, Havens assisted a woman with diabetes in administering insulin injections. 

Havens’ high school guidance counselor suggested college instead. “No one in my family had ever gone to college,” Havens said, “and I didn’t really know the path to that.” The counselor enrolled Havens in classes that would prepare her academically and taught her how to fill out college applications.  

She worked multiple jobs to earn money for college, one of which included serving as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home and exploring her passion for providing care: “I fell in love with clinical care,” she said, “and with the patients there.” 

Havens applied to TCU to be close to her brother, who had moved to Fort Worth. She was accepted, and the scholarship she was awarded made it financially possible for her to attend. Boarding the first flight she had ever taken, Havens moved to Fort Worth at age 17, unsure of what was next but eager to find out. 

Clinical Care Calling

Although Havens first considered becoming a school guidance counselor to assist other students the way her counselor had helped her, nursing continued to call to her. 

Declaring nursing as her major, Havens dove into her classes, where she remembers feeling supported by the professors and by fellow students. TCU, she said, taught her to strive for excellence and prepared her well to provide clinical care — “especially learning how to look at the whole person, not just the ailment.” 

Among the important lessons she learned at TCU, Havens said, was the framework for clinical safety in nursing — the Five Rights of Medication Administration. Ensuring the right patient is receiving the right drug in the right dose, through the right pathway and at the right time is a critical checklist for nurses. 

Havens considered becoming a school guidance counselor to help others the way her counselor helped her, but nursing continued to call.

Caring for the caregiver was another lesson Havens learned first at TCU. 

“One of my nursing professors told us that if we needed a day for our own mental health, to take it, no questions asked,” Havens said. “She and my other professors stressed that we needed to take care of ourselves in order to care for patients. … it was very forward-thinking. This powerful life lesson is something I carry with me today.” 

Havens worked as a health care assistant at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth while a student at TCU and as a nurse at several Veterans Administration Medical Centers after graduation.  

Caring for veterans and listening to their stories of service inspired Havens to join the U.S. Air Force Reserves; she also took inspiration from her father, who served in the U.S. Army. She served for six years, working in a clinical role one weekend each month and participating in additional clinical training two weeks each year. 

“The VA was very supportive of continuing education and also of supporting the country through military service,” she said. “Most of the nurses on my unit had master’s degrees and continued to provide bedside care.” 

Managing Risk, Finding Reward

Earning her master’s degree in nursing from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1989 allowed Havens to sharpen her skills and explore new interests.  

She went on to become a cardiovascular clinical nurse specialist at Methodist Dallas Medical Center; in that role, Havens deepened her interest in health care safety and began to proactively manage risk for herself and others.  

“I had some exposure to risk and safety as a bedside nurse,” she said, “but as a clinical nurse specialist, I helped write the policies and do the audits to ultimately help nurses provide and patients have the safest care possible.” 

Havens joined her hospital’s peer review program, a process used to assess nursing care, qualifications and the validity of any complaints. Reviews may be triggered by a patient care incident or initiated by a nurse who believes an assignment could violate the Nursing Practice Act. 

On that team, Havens assisted with investigations and partnered with hospital leadership and attorneys on next steps. Through the experience, she found a new side of health care that interested her — advocating for nurses from a legal perspective. 

“I felt like nurses and other health care providers needed an advocate. We can’t always control the outcome,” Havens said. “How do you explain that, protect the patient and write education that allows us to learn from things that happen to make us better?” 

Havens decided to pursue her interest in risk, compliance and the legalities of health care by earning a juris doctor degree. She attended Baylor Law School with the goal of staying in the field of health care upon graduation — and found that the skill set she had honed as a nurse readied her for the rigors of law school.

“Analyzing issues and problems was great preparation for law school, which was a lot of logical problems and analysis,” Havens said. “I enjoyed figuring out the pieces of the puzzle and how they fit together.”

After graduating in 1993 and clerking for the Texas Supreme Court for a year, Havens began practicing as an attorney, working on cases involving health care law. She joined a well-regarded firm that specialized in the field and served as a trial attorney.

As a U.S. Air Force Reserve nurse, Lisa Havens combined military discipline with clinical care — shaping a unique perspective she brings to health system leadership today.

One of the firm’s clients was the system formerly known as Scott & White, which provided health care in Central Texas, operating a network of clinics and hospitals. After serving as outside counsel for the health care system, Havens was recruited for a position inside Scott & White as the system’s director of risk management and assistant general counsel.

“It was an amazing opportunity to come in-house and continue to partner with outside counsel as an organization that wanted to do the right thing. I always felt 100 percent supported in doing that next right thing,” Havens said. “That culture and support is why I went there — and why I have stayed.”

Scott & White merged with Baylor Healthcare System in 2013, creating the largest not-for-profit health care system in Texas. In a series of promotions, Havens advanced to vice president of risk management, senior vice president of risk management, chief risk officer and then deputy general counsel.

“Her path sounds unique to other people, of course, but Lisa has used the same core principle whether she’s a nurse, whether she’s military, whether she’s an attorney,” said Jennifer Salim Richards ’08, principal and founder of Richards Law, who has provided legal counsel to Baylor Scott & White since 2016. “She’s always about love, service, integrity first. She’s just worn different hats to perform that service.” 

Today, Havens serves as chief legal officer for Baylor Scott & White Health, managing a team of 279 employees and outside counsel. She leads the legal, risk, compliance and internal audit functions, as well as government affairs and community investment. In her role, Havens also serves as legal adviser to the Baylor Scott & White board of directors and as a member of the system’s senior leadership team, reporting directly to the CEO, Peter McCanna. 

Grounded in Integrity and Truth

Throughout Havens’ diverse career in health care, one unwavering focus has remained at the heart of every role: doing what is right for the patient.

“One of the core things for me is always going back to our ‘why.’ We are here to provide care and comfort to patients,” Havens said. “I’m interested in helping caregivers stay focused on making it about patients and their families. How do we come together to provide that compassionate care? How do we do that and maintain resiliency? How do we listen to our providers, understand and support them so we can continue to provide excellent health care?” 

“Lisa always starts with the premise that she’s going to do what’s best for the patient and what’s best for the mission,” Richards said. “As outside counsel, it’s such a gift to work with that mentality. You just have to bring her the answer grounded in integrity and truth.” 

“One of the core things for me is always going back to our ‘why.’ We are here to provide care and comfort to patients.”
Lisa Havens

Havens reflects on her well-rounded career as being a gift in the form of a series of opportunities placed before her to learn and to grow as a professional and as a person. She points to her time at TCU as an example of how, with the right support, a person can reach their potential. 

“I have extreme gratitude to TCU for taking in a 17-year-old who didn’t know anything,” Havens said, “and then guiding me, shaping me and preparing me for a life and a future after TCU.”