Alyssa Desgranges-Ellett was nine when her grandfather needed a heart transplant. She was there when doctors used an artificial heart machine to keep him alive while he waited his turn on the transplant list. “I couldn’t believe how this one piece of technology was not only keeping him alive, but vastly improved his quality of life,” she said. “All those experiences I lived through with him led me to end up where I am today, working for a healthcare-technology company that creates software to make the jobs of healthcare professionals more efficient and accurate, in order to save more lives.”
Twenty-five years later, Desgranges-Ellett is the associate general counsel and compliance officer at Medical Informatics Corp., a healthcare-technology company where she helped create and implement the company’s first contract-management system, led the company’s internal-ethics initiative and mentoring program and is designing the formal return-to-work policies and procedures. She is also a finalist for the 2022 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Rookie of the Year.
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Texas Lawbook: What are one or two life-impacting experiences you’ve had?
Alyssa Desgranges-Ellett: One of the biggest life-impacting experiences I had as a child was the amount of travel we did as a family. My parents traveled with my brother and me from a very young age, primarily to visit my dad when he was traveling for work. I got to see and experience so many places outside of the small town I grew up in. It allowed me to see how other people live and how society differs from place to place. I credit those experiences with teaching me how to be curious and how to interact with people from all walks of life. Being able to connect with another human being is such an important part of being an attorney. It’s a skill set that really isn’t taught in law school, and I’m glad I learned how to do that early in life.
One memorable trip was getting the opportunity to visit Okinawa, Japan. My maternal grandmother, my grandma Nobuko Cook, is from Okinawa. During The Pacific War, she lost both of her parents and three of her siblings. After the war, she eventually moved to the United States. She arrived here speaking no English and with a newborn baby in tow. But over time, she taught herself English, she got a job, and she made a successful life for herself here.
I learned so much from that trip, not only about my Okinawan culture but also about what my grandma went through as a young girl during the war. It was a reminder of how lucky I was to be on planet Earth, how everything had to precisely happen in such a way where my grandmother would go on to survive the war, immigrate to America and end up having a total of six children and three grandchildren. When I’m feeling in a rut, I often reflect on her journey to remind myself of how hard she worked to build a life here, which in turn helped paved the way for her children and grandchildren to get where we all are today.
Lawbook: What do you do in your free time?
Desgranges-Ellett: When I’m not working, you’ll find me spending time with my husband, Brad, and our cat, Lupe. I love to read books and listen to podcasts. I am a huge Formula One racing fan and a die-hard Detroit Tigers baseball fan.
Lawbook: Family seems incredibly important to you.
Desgranges-Ellett: My husband Brad is more than I could ever ask for in a partner. It’s not easy to be married to a lawyer when you yourself are not a lawyer. Sometimes lawyers get phone calls after business hours, sometimes we must work on a weekend and our email is always dinging on our phone at any given hour of the day. However, Brad has always been so supportive and understanding and never stands in the way of me pursuing my dreams. When I told him I wanted to leave my law firm job to move in-house at a healthcare technology startup, he didn’t have a moment of hesitation and encouraged me to take the leap of faith.