Atul Gawande, MD, MPH To Speak at Lucian Leape Institute Forum & Gala

Boston, MA, Aug. 16, 2011 – The Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation has announced the program for the fourth annual Forum & Gala to be held in Boston on Thursday, September 22, 2011.

An interactive afternoon dialogue with members of the Institute will be followed by an evening program featuring guest speaker, Atul Gawande, MD, MPH. Dr. Gawande, a general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, is known for his writing on topics in medicine, health care quality, and health reform. A staff writer at the New Yorker magazine since 1998, Dr. Gawande has authored three books that have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list, the most recent of which, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, examines the use of checklists to perform complex work.

Dr. Gawande served as a senior health policy adviser in the Clinton presidential campaign and White House from 1992 to 1993. In 2006, he received a MacArthur Award for his research and writing. He is a recipient of AcademyHealth’s Impact Award for highest research impact on health care, and was named by Foreign Policy Magazine and TIME magazine as one of the world’s top 100 influential thinkers.

“Dr. Gawande’s writings and insights are an inspiration to health care professionals and the public at large,” said Diane C. Pinakiewicz, president of the National Patient Safety Foundation and the Lucian Leape Institute at NPSF. “We are honored to welcome him to share his thoughts on future developments in health care.

The Lucian Leape Institute at NPSF functions as a think tank to identify new approaches to improving patient safety. Members of the Institute comprise national thought leaders with an interest or expertise in the patient safety field. During the afternoon Forum, Institute members will offer insights into their work. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and participate in a discussion about concepts that may help transform the health care and patient safety landscape.

In addition to Ms. Pinakiewicz, Institute members include the chairman, Lucian Leape, MD, adjunct professor of health policy, Harvard School of Public Health; Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, director of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; James B. Conway, MS, adjunct faculty, Harvard School of Public Health; Susan Edgman-Levitan, PA, executive director, John D. Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation, Massachusetts General Hospital; Gary S. Kaplan, MD, chairman and chief executive officer, Virginia Mason Medical Center; Julianne M. Morath, RN, MS, chief quality and safety officer, Vanderbilt Medical Center; Dennis S. O’Leary, MD, President Emeritus, The Joint Commission; Paul O’Neill, former chairman and CEO, Alcoa, and 72d secretary of the US Treasury; David M. Lawrence, MD, chairman and CEO (retired), Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; and Pamela A. Thompson, MS, RN, FAAN, CEO, American Organization of Nurse Executives.

The afternoon Forum takes place from 1:30 to 5 pm at the Omni Parker House in Boston. The evening Gala, at the State Room, begins with a reception at 6 pm, followed by dinner at 7 pm.

Registration details and more information are available at www.npsf.org. Those interested in opportunities to support the work of the Lucian Leape Institute are encouraged to contact David Coletta at dcoletta@npsf.org.

About the Lucian Leape Institute
The Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation, established in 2007,  is charged with defining strategic paths and calls to action for the field of patient safety, offering vision and context for the many efforts under way within health care, and providing the leverage necessary for system-level change. Its members comprise national thought leaders with a common interest in patient safety whose expertise and influence are brought to bear as the Institute calls for the innovation necessary to expedite the work and create significant, sustainable improvements in culture, process, and outcomes critical to safer health care. The Institute challenges the system to address the structural impediments to more expeditious and comprehensive adoption of patient safety solutions.

About The National Patient Safety Foundation®
The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) has been pursuing one mission since its founding in 1997 – to improve the safety of care provided to patients. As a central voice for patient safety, NPSF is committed to a collaborative, inclusive, multi-stakeholder approach in all activities. NPSF is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. To learn more about the work of the National Patient Safety Foundation, please visit: www.npsf.org.