IHI is delighted to announce this year's National Forum keynote speakers who will be presenting during the General Conference on Wednesday, December 10 and Thursday, December 11.
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.
Robert Brustein, famed theatrical playwright, critic, actor, and producer of this year's National Forum keynote presentation, Dr. Hippocrates Is Out: Please Leave a Message. He is Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Suffolk University and a past Dean of the Yale Drama School. He is also the founding director both of the Yale Repertory Theatre and the American Repertory Theatre, where he served for 23 years. Mr. Brustein is the author of 15 books on theatre and society, including Reimagining American Theatre, The Theatre of Revolt, Making Scenes (a memoir of his Yale years), Who Needs Theatre, Dumbocracy in America, Cultural Calisthenics, The Siege of the Arts, and Letters to a Young Actor. His last book, Millennial Stages was published in 2006. His newest book, on Shakespeare’s prejudices, The Truant Muse, will be published in 2009.
Susan Dentzer, Editor-in-Chief, Health Affairs, joined the journal after and a decade as the on-air health correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. Health Affairs, which has been called the nation’s health policy “Bible,” is a peer-reviewed journal that appears bimonthly in print with additional online entries published weekly. The journal and website, based in Bethesda, MD, are published by Project HOPE, the health education and humanitarian assistance organization that operates programs in 36 countries around the world.
John A. Kitzhaber, MD, President, Estes Park Institute, is also Director for the Center for Evidence-Based Policy at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. He holds an endowed Chair on Health Care Policy with The Foundation for Medical Excellence. A former Senator and two-term Governor of Oregon, Dr. Kitzhaber was instrumental in creating the state’s groundbreaking Oregon Health Plan. In 2006 he launched The Archimedes Movement, a catalyst organization whose vision is to drive the national debate on creating a more equitable and sustainable US health care system.
