Chief Scientific Officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); USA

Chief Scientific Officer, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), leads IHI’s commitment to use effective improvement science methods to achieve its mission of improving health and health care worldwide. Dr. Barker oversees IHI’s cutting-edge innovation, design, and learning activities, ensuring that we maximize the opportunities for impact and that practical improvement methods and tools are accessible to all who seek to improve health and health care. He has extensive experience in designing effective health improvement interventions across a variety of health systems and economies, and has worked closely with the World Health Organization to help develop a global implementation strategy to improve quality of care for mothers and newborns. He attended medical school in South Africa and has practiced pediatrics for more than 30 years in South Africa, UK, and US. Before joining IHI, Dr. Barker was Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Director of University of North Carolina (UNC) Children’s Hospital clinics. He has extensive experience in basic, clinical, and implementation science research and is Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the Maternal and Child Health Department at Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC Chapel Hill.