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International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare
Keynote Speakers
2012 Confirmed keynote speakers
- Donald M. Berwick, Former Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Former President and founder of IHI
- Maureen Bisognano, President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- Sir Liam Donaldson, WHO Envoy for Patient Safety; Chair, World Health Organisation World Alliance for Patient Safety
- Jean-Luc Harousseau, Chairman, French National Authority for Health
- Nigel Edwards , Director KPMG / Senior Fellow, the King’s Fund
- Dr Peter van Manen, Managing Director, McLaren Electronic Systems
- David R. Williams, Astronaut; Physician; President and CEO, Southlake Regional Health Centre, and Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of Toronto
- Nancy Snyderman, Award winning journalist; Chief Medical Editor, NBC News, “Nightly News”, “Today”, "Dateline NBC”
Speaker Biographies
Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, is the former President and CEO, of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an organization that Dr. Berwick co-founded and led for over 20 years. He is one of the nation's leading authorities on health care quality and improvement. In July, 2010, President Obama appointed Dr. Berwick to the position of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a position he held until December 2011. A pediatrician by background, Dr. Berwick has served on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health, and on the staffs of Boston's Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He has also served as vice chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the first "Independent Member" of the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association, and chair of the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. An elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Dr. Berwick served two terms on the IOM’s governing Council and was a member of the IOM’s Global Health Board. He served on President Clinton's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Healthcare Industry. He is a recipient of numerous awards, including the 1999 Joint Commission’s Ernest Amory Codman Award, the 2002 American Hospital Association’s Award of Honor, the 2006 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award for Individual Achievement from the National Quality Forum and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the 2007 William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research, and the 2007 Heinz Award for Public Policy from the Heinz Family Foundation. In 2005, he was appointed “Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire” by the Queen of England, the highest honor awarded in the UK to non-British subjects, in recognition of his work with the British National Health Service. Dr. Berwick is the author or co-author of over 150 scientific articles and four books.
Maureen is a prominent authority on improving healthcare systems, whose expertise has been recognised by her elected membership to the Institute of Medicine and by her appointment to The Commonwealth Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System, among other distinctions. Ms. Bisognano advises healthcare leaders around the world, is a frequent speaker at major healthcare conferences on quality improvement, and is a tireless advocate for change. She is also an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Research Associate in the Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities, and serves on the boards of the Commonwealth Fund, ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value, and Mayo Clinic Health System, Eau Claire. Prior to joining IHI, she served as CEO of the Massachusetts Respiratory Hospital and Senior Vice President of,The Juran Institute.
From 1998 to June 2010, Sir Liam Donaldson was the Chief Medical Officer for England and the United Kingdom’s Chief Medical Adviser.
Whilst in post, Sir Liam authored a series of ground-breaking reports aimed at transforming a wide range of areas of health, healthcare and medical science, for example producing the country’s first comprehensive health protection strategy; proposing new legislation to allow carefully regulated stem cell research; addressing poor clinical performance; introducing a comprehensive programme for patient safety and empowering patient self management of chronic disease.
Sir Liam is probably best known for three of his achievements. Firstly, his trailblazing annual reports, which have brought major health concerns to public attention, in particular the need for smoke-free public places, the obesity ‘time bomb’, the shortage of organs available for donation and the problems of binge drinking.
Secondly, his creation of the concept of clinical governance – a clinically led approach to assure high standards of care – which is now an internationally recognised approach in health care.
Thirdly, his leadership of patient safety as a priority for health care systems around the world. His report An organisation with a memory shaped policy on patient safety in the United Kingdom and his chairmanship of the World Health Organization World Alliance for Patient Safety has moved action to a global scale.
Sir Liam has published over 150 papers in peer reviewed journals, is co-author of a standard text book of public health, has two higher degrees and fourteen honorary degrees as well as fellowship of many Royal Colleges and professional bodies.
Jean-Luc Harousseau is Professor of Hematology at the University of Nantes, France and Chairman of the French National Authority for Health (HAS) since February 2011. He was Head of the Department of Clinical Haematology for 24 years and Director of the Cancer Center René Gauducheau in Nantes from October 2008 to January 2011.
In his previous position, he was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the French National Cancer Institute and President of the Clinical Research in Oncology National Committee from October 2008 to January 2011. He was a founder member of the Groupe Ouest-Est Leucémies Aigues et Maladies du Sang and of the Intergroupe Français du Myélome and President of this internationally renowned cooperative group from June 2009 to January 2011. Professor Harousseau is a member of the European Haematology Association, the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
He was member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and of International Myeloma Foundation. His fields of interest are Therapy of Acute Myeloid Leukemia and of Multiple Myeloma. He received the 2005 Waldenström Award and the 2009 Robert Kyle Award for his scientific contribution in the field of Multiple Myeloma. He has contributed to more than 500 peer-reviewed publications.
Nigel Edwards is a Senior Fellow at the King’s Fund think-tank and a Director with the Global Healthcare group at KPMG. He was Communications and Policy Director of the NHS Confederation and has a wealth of experience in health and social care. He joined the organisation 11 years ago from his former role as Director of the London Health Economics Consortium at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, where he remains an honorary visiting professor.
As Director of Policy, Nigel led the confederation in developing and influencing health policy on behalf of members and ensuring NHS organisations have a prominent public voice. At the same time he oversaw the confederation’s policy and communications services and the NHS European Office. Nigel was responsible for founding the health services research network as part of the confederation to provide a voice for the research community and improve dialogue between managers, policy makers and research.
Nigel is a well-known media commentator, often in the spotlight debating policy issues. He is a member of the group providing advice to the government on health policy.
Dr Peter van Manen is Managing Director of McLaren Electronic Systems, the UK based company that provides the control and data systems to all of the competitors in the FIA Formula One World Championship. IZOD IndyCar Series and, from 2012, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. The company also develops and manufactures systems for the automotive, aerospace, railway and healthcare industries. These systems all have their origins in Formula One, a sport and business that is characterised by rapid development underpinned by effective exploitation of simulation and real-time data systems.
Peter is a mechanical engineer by training and has been with McLaren for 20 years. He has been running the company, firstly as Operations and then as the Managing Director since 1997. He is Australian by birth, but has lived in the UK since graduating from university.
Canadian Astronaut and Physician, Dr. Dafydd Williams, is the President and CEO for Newmarket-based Southlake Regional Heath Centre and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. Prior to joining Southlake in July 2011, Dr. Williams was the Director of the McMaster Centre for Medical Robotics at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and a Professor in the Department of Surgery of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine (2008-2011). Dr. Williams also previously held the position of Chief Medical Officer of Quality and Safety at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton (2010-2011). During 2007, Dr. Williams served as a NASA mission specialist on STS-118, partaking part in three of the four spacewalks, and setting a Canadian record for 17 hours and 47 minutes outside.
Dr. Williams was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and graduated from McGill University, with a Bachelor of Science, Major in Biology (1976). He obtained a Master of Science from the Physiology Department, a Doctorate of Medicine and a Master of Surgery from the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University (1983). He was awarded honourary degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, McGill University, the University of Wales, and Queen’s University.
Dr. Nancy Snyderman joined NBC News as the Chief Medical Editor in September 2006. Her reports appear on “Today,” “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “Rock Center with Brian Williams,” “Dateline NBC,” MSNBC, and MSNBC.com. Snyderman is an award winning journalist and has garnered several of the industries most distinguished honors including Emmy’s, DuPont and Edward R. Murrow awards.
She has reported on wide-ranging topics affecting society and has traveled the world extensively, reporting from many of the world's most troubled areas. Snyderman also serves as the Medical Director of GE’s healthymagination initiative and serves on the board of directors of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. She is on staff in the Department of the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining NBC News, Snyderman served as Vice President of Consumer Education at Johnson & Johnson where she focused on the importance of digital health. Before that she served as the medical correspondent for ABC News for 17 years and was a contributor to “20/20,” “Primetime,” and “Good Morning America.” She was a frequent substitute co-host on “Good Morning America.”
Snyderman attended medical school at the University of Nebraska and continued with residencies in Pediatrics and Ear, Nose, and Throat Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. She joined the surgical staff at the University of Arkansas in 1983 and began her broadcasting career shortly after at KATV, the ABC affiliates in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Snyderman’s medical work has been widely published in peer review journals and she is the recipient of numerous research grants. She was awarded a Kellogg fellowship in 1987. She has also been recognized in broadcasting with Emmy, DuPont, and Gracie awards. She is a New York Times bestselling author, having written five books: “Dr Nancy Snyderman's Guide to Good Health for Women Over Forty,” “Necessary Journeys,” “Girl in the Mirror: Mothers and Daughters in the Years of Adolescence,” “Diet Myths That Keep Us Fat,” and “Medical Myths That Can Kill You.”
Snyderman lives in Princeton, New Jersey, with her husband, Doug, and is the mother of three children, Kate, Rachel and Charlie. She is an avid equestrian and hiker.
