Institute for Healthcare Improvement: 19th National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care

IHI is delighted to announce this year's National Forum keynote speakers who will be presenting during the General Conference on December 11 and 12.

Donald Berwick Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, is President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). He is one of the nation's leading authorities on health care quality and improvement. He is also clinical professor of pediatrics and health care policy at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Berwick has served as vice chair of the US Preventive Services Task Force, the first “Independent Member” of the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association, and as chair on the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Dr. Berwick now serves on the IOM’s Governing Council. Dr. Berwick is the author of numerous articles and books, including Curing Health Care and Escape Fire.

Atul A. Gawande, BAS, MD, MPH

Atul A. Gawande, BAS, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, is also Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard School of Public Health and the Associate Director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Center for Surgery and Public Health. Dr. Gawande is one of the world’s leading researchers on patient safety in surgery. He produced a systematic series of studies that have shown the incidence rate of damaging error in surgery, the rates by procedure, and the patterns behind them. He is also the Director of the World Health Organization’s Global Challenge for Patient Safety in Surgery and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. Dr. Gawande authored the books Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science and Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance.

Sarah Jones

Sarah Jones is a Tony Award^®winning playwright, actor, and poet. Called "a master of the genre" by The New York Times, Jones is known for her creative approach to exploring social justice issues from a multicultural perspective. Her solo shows include Surface Transit, Women Can't Wait, and Bridge and Tunnel, and her career has taken her on tours of India, Europe and South Africa. She has performed for such diverse audiences as the United Nations, members of the U.S. Congress and the Supreme Court of Nepal. The daughter of two physicians, Jones has a longstanding passion for raising awareness of social inequalities. Her newest work, A Right To Care, commissioned by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, explores the ways in which ethnic, racial, and economic health disparities impact people’s daily lives.

Amory Lovins

Amory Lovins, a MacArthur Fellow and consultant physicist, has advised the energy and other industries for more than three decades as well as the US Departments of Energy and Defense. He has published in 29 books, including Small Is Profitable and Winning the Oil Endgame, and hundreds of papers. His work in more than 50 countries has been recognized by the “Alternative Nobel,” Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, the Benjamin Franklin and Happold Medals, nine honorary doctorates, honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Jean Meyer, Time Hero for the Planet, and World Technology Awards. A Harvard and Oxford dropout and former Oxford don (receiving in consequence an Oxford MA by Special Resolution), he advises industries and governments worldwide and has briefed 19 heads of state. He co-founded and is Chairman and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute, an independent think-and-do tank that creates abundance by design. Mr. Lovins is the inventor of the ultralight-hybrid Hypercar^® vehicles.

Mini Keynote Speakers

René Amalberti, MD, PhD, Vice CEO of IMASSA (Airforce Aerospace Medical Research Institute), also serves part-time as the referent expert on patient safety at the Haute Autorité de Santé in France. He is a professor of medicine, has a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, and is a research specialist in system safety. During his career, Dr. Amalberti has occupied several safety-related managerial positions in national and international bodies such as head of human factors at the European Civil Aviation Authorities, chairman of a national road safety program, and associate administrator of the FOCSI.

Maureen Bisognano, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, is responsible for day-to-day management of the Institute's many programs designed to improve the delivery of health care. Ms. Bisognano oversees all operations, program development, and strategic planning for the Institute. She also advises senior leaders around the world on improving health care systems. Ms. Bisognano is on the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health and a member of the Commonwealth Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System. Prior to joining IHI, she served as Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Respiratory Hospital and Senior Vice President of The Juran Institute.

Lillee S. Gelinas, RN, MSN, FAAN, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, VHA Inc., has been at VHA since 1986, helping create programs and services to benefit VHA's clinicians and impact quality patient care. She serves on numerous national committees, including the JCAHO Nursing Advisory Council, and she co-chaired the National Quality Forum Nursing Project which resulted in 15 consensus performance measures being established for nursing sensitive care. Ms. Gelinas was appointed as the "consensus nominee" for the nursing profession to the American Health Information Community (AHIC), a commission authorized by the White House to promote IT in health care within 10 years, for which she co-chairs the AHIC Electronic Health Record workgroup. As a member of the Exempla Healthcare Board of Directors, she is chair of the Governance Committee.

Carol Haraden, PhD, Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, is responsible for patient safety initiatives and the development of innovative designs in patient care at IHI. She currently leads the Safer Patients Initiative, a four-year project to improve patient safety in the UK. Dr. Haraden has been a Dean in higher education, a clinician, a researcher, and Vice President for Quality Services at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vermont. She served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Engineering Approaches to Improve Health Care, and she is a judge for several national quality awards. Dr. Haraden has published several papers and serves as associate editor for the journal, Quality and Safety in Health Care.

Peter Knox, Executive Vice President, Bellin Health, has held a variety of leadership roles over the past 27 years at Bellin. He has been a consultant for organizations both within and outside of health care, including the US Navy. His 2000 book titled "The Business of Healthcare" has been used by a number of universities and organizations across the country. Mr. Knox recently initiated the Bellin Institute for Health, which is dedicated to supporting individuals in making lifestyle and behavioral changes that result in better health and richer lives.

Thomas Nolan, PhD, Statistician, Associates in Process Improvement, is also an author and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). He oversees the IHI's Research and Development efforts.

Patricia A. Rutherford, RN, MS, Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), is responsible for managing IHI's Clinical Office Practice Redesign, Improving Access and Flow in Specialty Practices and Outpatient Settings, Optimizing Care Coordination and Transitions in Care, Innovations in Patient-Centered Care, and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and IHI project, Transforming Care at the Bedside. Her skills include knowledge of process improvement, innovation, and idealized design; coaching clinicians, staff, and senior leaders in organizations on process improvement; and management of all aspects of large performance improvement initiatives. Prior to joining IHI, she worked for 21 years at Children's Hospital in Boston.

Sr. Mary Jean Ryan, Franciscan Sister of Mary, is President and Chief Executive Officer of SSM Health Care (SSMHC), one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the United States. In 2002, SSMHC became the first health care recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. During her 21-year tenure, Sr. Mary Jean has emphasized three key themes: preservation of the earth's resources; valuing ethnic and gender diversity; and commitment to continuous quality improvement. Author of “On Becoming Exceptional: SSM Health Care's Journey to Baldrige and Beyond,” Sr. Mary Jean also presents nationally and internationally on SSMHC's quality journey.