Lois Boulware, MD, founded the Office of Patient Relations in 1972. She was a leader in the field of patient advocacy before patient advocacy was a recognized term. In 1971, she saw a Time magazine article in which a nurse in New York State had her own poor experience as a patient and took that experience to form the first patient advocacy program in the country.

Boulware was inspired by the article and took the information to John Colloton, then UI Hospitals and Clinics director, who gave her the go-ahead to implement a patient relations program.