Our Mission

Meera Ballal, JD, MEd, and Founder of Women's Healthcare Initiative, first addressed domestic violence issues when leading the Bexar County Family Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas. The BCFJC, opened in 2005, served 4,000 families a year under her leadership and was housed in the University Hospital. One of the first FJCs to exist in the country, it was unique in that it served victims of domestic violence in a hospital. Meera immediately recognized the value an Emergency Room plays in recognizing, treating, documenting and referring patients struggling with domestic violence issues and how lack of medical recognition of domestic violence affects a patient's long-term health and safety.

Moving to Nashville in 2012, Meera, fueled by data from the Department of Justice (DOJ) stating that 37% of all women who sought care in hospital emergency rooms for physical injuries were injuries caused by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend but were mostly unrecognized domestic violence injuries, brought the concept of training medical professionals in the intricacies of intimate partner violence (IPV) and how that recognition, makes families safer and healthier.  HCA was the first to implement her IPV concepts in their five Emergency Departments at their flagship hospital, TriStar Centennial. Under the umbrella of Women’s Healthcare Initiative, Meera has created, developed and overseen IPV protocols and treatment plans, led IPV Task Forces, held IPV Director positions within institutions, helped hospitals reach and maintain Joint Commission compliance and trained and educated medical staff, counselors, social workers, government agencies and non-profit leaders in the recognition, documentation, treatment and follow-up care of IPV and Human Trafficking patients. 

Meera, a native of Tennessee, comes from a private practice background and served on the medical malpractice litigation team at Miller & Martin, LPC (Nashville); worked as a staff assistant on policy issues for a U.S. Senator and Congressman (Washington, D.C.); created the first community safety audit in the country for the Children’s Defense Fund (Washington, D.C.); and currently consults and sits on many Boards and Advisory Committees including the Centennial Hospital Pediatric Community Advisory Board, the Tennessee Department of Health NVDRS Advisory Committee, VEP-SANE Advisory Board of Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Davidson County Mayor John Cooper’s Policing Policy Commission, and the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.  Meera has a J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law, a B.S. and M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University, and an M.Phil from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.