Opening Remarks and Keynote: "Blood Poison": Lessons from Sepsis History

On April 30, 2002, Carl Flatley’s life changed. It was the day his daughter, Erin, died from septic shock, something Carl Flatley, DDS, MSD, a retired endodontist, had never heard of. After Erin’s death, Dr. Flatley learned everything he could about sepsis, and was astounded by what he – and millions of other Americans – didn’t know about the condition. He was shocked to learn that, at the time, sepsis killed well over 200,000 people in the U.S. every year and even survivors were often left with serious after-effects. In 2004, Dr. Flatley founded the American Sepsis Alliance, which became Sepsis Alliance in 2007. It became his mission to make sepsis as well-known as cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses. His catchphrase became “So More Survive,” encapsulating his commitment to seeing fewer lives and limbs lost to sepsis.  This unending devotion to Erin’s memory has had a significant impact on many people.

Shelby Hoffman, CRAT, LNA, Sunshine Award Winner, has always been described as someone with a big heart. Her passion for caring for other people and animals started at a young age. Riding horses since she was 6 years old helped build a strong foundation of inner strength, courage and natural empathy. When she was 16, her dad was diagnosed with cancer, underwent a lobectomy, and began intense chemotherapy. She was by his side throughout all these life events, which started her on the path to healthcare. She originally went to school for a degree in equine science, then changed paths to become a Health Unit Coordinator (HUC) to better understand how things worked in a hospital before pursuing a different degree. That later led to her becoming a Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA).

While working on cardiac floors in many different hospitals, she was gradually taught how to read and interpret heart rhythms, officially making the jump to being a monitor tech in 2020 and becoming a Certified Rhythm Analysis Technician (CRAT) in 2026, and is currently working toward her BS in Healthcare Innovation at Arizona State University. Her dad passed when she was 21 of septic shock, which fueled her passion for sepsis awareness and increased her dedication to patient safety.

Today as her 30th birthday approaches, she still rides, owns, and shows horses, having recently won awards at the 2026 Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show with her horse Kaneki. His name came from the nerdier things she enjoys, like gaming, anime, manga, and collecting Pokémon cards.

Parsa Shahinpoor, MD, is a frontline hospitalist, teaching physician, and quality improvement leader at Kaiser Permanente Northwest, where he has spent nearly two decades advancing sepsis care–, a role that has connected him with experts around the world. He completed his medical training at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, where he served as an assistant professor of medicine and directed the internal medicine medical student clerkship. He is the author of Blood Poison: The Untold Story of Sepsis (Amplify Publishing, July 2026), available at BloodPoison.com. Blending science, history, and narrative, he writes to make one of medicine's most urgent challenges vivid and accessible, bringing to life the patients and families whose stories illuminate the human cost of sepsis. Outside of medicine, Dr. Shahinpoor is passionate about playing and composing classical and modern piano. He also enjoys mountaineering, windsurfing, and stand-up paddleboarding in the Pacific Northwest.