Lisa James is Director of Health at the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF). As part of a National Health Initiative on Domestic Violence, Ms. James has collaborated with health care providers, domestic violence experts and health policy makers in 15 states across the U.S. to develop statewide health care responses to domestic violence through training, health policy reform and public education. She collaborates with national medical and nursing associations to enact effective health policy and programmatic health care responses to abuse and coordinates the biennial National Conference on Health Care and Domestic Violence (attended by over 1000 participants).  During her 13 years at the FVPF, Ms. James has also worked with the FVPF’s international program, collaborating with leaders from non-governmental and health care organizations in Russia, Mexico, India and China to build the capacity of health systems, providers and community members to identify and help victims in reproductive health settings. 

Ms. James has developed educational materials for healthcare professionals on domestic violence, and is editor of the FVPF’s manuals: Improving the Health Care Response to Domestic Violence: A Trainer’s Manual for Health Care Providers (1998); The Business Case for Domestic Violence Programs in Health Care Settings (2002); National Consensus Guidelines on Identifying and Responding to Domestic Violence Victimization in Health Care Settings (2002); Making the Connection: Domestic Violence and Public Health (2004); and The National Health Care Standards Campaign on Family Violence: Model Practices from 15 states (2004). Ms. James serves as a steering committee member of the American Medical Association’s National Advisory Council on Violence and Abuse and is a member of the Academy on Violence and Abuse.  Prior to her employment at the FVPF, she worked in the Czech Republic to develop educational and public health programs for Czech and Slovak students.  Ms. James has a Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies from the department of University College Dublin, Ireland and a Bachelors Degree in Humanities from San Francisco State University, California. She is a mother of two small children and lives in Berkeley, California.