SPEAKERS
Clarence J. Biddle

Dr. Biddle’s 26-year career in anesthesiology has been characterized by a keen interest in patient safety issues from a clinician/researcher perspective. Besides working in the busy operating theatre of Virginia Commonwealth University, he works with large national patient databases that involve negative outcomes and has uncovered many common themes in patient misadventures, much of that work echoing what was so clearly revealed in the sentinel IOM report on human error. This work has translated into research directed at how we make decisions in the complex and stressful environment of health care, and how resultant interventions may fail as a result of human error and system faults. He continue to serve as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, entering his 23rd year in that capacity.
Carolyn M. Clancy, MD

Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., was appointed Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on February 5, 2003.  Prior to her appointment, Dr. Clancy had served as AHRQ's Acting Director since March 2002 and previously was Director of the Agency’s Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research (COER).

Dr. Clancy, who is a general internist and health services researcher, is a graduate of Boston College and the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  Following clinical training in internal medicine, Dr. Clancy was a Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. She was also an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond before joining AHRQ in 1990.

Dr. Clancy holds an academic appointment at George Washington University School of Medicine (Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Medicine) and serves as Senior Associate Editor, Health Services Research. Dr. Clancy has served on multiple editorial boards (currently Annals of Family Medicine, American Journal of Medical Quality, and Medical Care Research and Review). Dr. Clancy has published widely in peer reviewed journals and has edited or contributed to seven books. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and was elected a Master of the American College of Physicians in 2004.

Her major research interests include various dimensions of health care quality and patient, including women’s health, primary care, access to care services, and the impact of financial incentives on physicians' decisions.

Dr. Clancy lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C, with her husband, Bill.  She enjoys jogging, movies and spending time with her extended family, especially four nieces in Virginia.
Elizabeth F. Hurd, MSN, RN
  Elizabeth F. Hurd is the Clinical Data Manager, Decision Support, at Prince William Hospital in Manassas, Virginia.

Ms. Hurd has been a nurse for 30 years with experience in multiple clinical areas. Ms. Hurd has held administrative positions with Inova Commonwealth Hospital from 1979 to 1987 and Inova Fair Oaks Hospital from 1987 to 1993. Ms. Hurd joined Prince William Hospital in 1999 as a Medical Unit charge nurse and then interim director of the Medical Unit. In 2001 Ms. Hurd joined the IS staff to develop the on-line nursing documentation for Meditech. In 2002 Ms. Hurd accepted the current position in the Quality Department, as the Clinical Data Manager.

Ms. Hurd graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1976. She earned a Master of Science in Nursing Administration in 2004 from George Mason University where she holds an adjunct professor position teaching Process Improvement in master’s level programs. Ms. Hurd is an examiner for the United States Senate Productivity and Quality Award for the State of Virginia.
Candace J. Kemper, RN, BS, MHCA, CNOR
  Candace J. Kemper is the Director of the Inpatient Operating Rooms and the Inpatient Central Processing Department at Prince William Hospital in Manassas, Virginia.

Ms. Kemper has been a nurse for 28 years with experience at two area hospitals in multiple clinical areas including Medical – Surgical, Emergency Room, Labor and Delivery, Nursery, Pediatrics and Operating Room. She was also certified in orthodontic radiology and appliance configuration and delivery as well as Orthodontic first assistant during her career in the Orthodontic arena.

Ms. Kemper graduated from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 1978. She earned a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration from Bellevue University, Bellevue, Nebraska, in 2004.

Ms. Kemper is very active in AORN, Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses, having held many offices in her local chapter, most recently as chapter president for the year 2004-2005. She is the president elect for the year 2006-2007 and will again be president for the year 2007-2008.
Phillip M. Kibort, MD, MBA
Phillip Kibort, MD, MBA, is a senior health care executive with over a decade’s experience in multiple areas of operations, strategy, and clinical management. He combines a strong clinical background along with direct experience in a leadership role of a children’s organization with $450 million of revenues, 3600 plus employees, and 1500 physicians. Before assuming his current position as vice president medical affairs/chief medical officer at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Kibort served as the vice president Strategic Development with the same system. He is by training a pediatric gastroenterologist, a clinical associate professor at the University Minnesota, Department of Pediatrics.
  Steve S. Kraman, MD
Dr. Kraman served as Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Risk Management Committee of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, from October 1986 to February 2003. As Chief of Staff, he was responsible for the development, organization, implementation and support of all patient-care activities. As Chairman of the facility’s Risk Management Committee, he was instrumental in designing the risk management and patient safety programs of that institution that was the first to consistently employ full-disclosure of medical errors over a prolonged (16 year) period. The paper that he co-authored in December 1999, established for the first time that full-disclosure was ethically and financially feasible. This program has been favorably reviewed by other risk management authorities and is being replicated within many other public and private sector medical facilities.

In 2000, Lexington’s risk management program won a Cheers Award from the Institute of Safe Medication Practice, a Scissors award from the Department of Veterans Affairs and was First runner-up for the Frank Brown Berry Prize in Federal Medicine. In October 2002, the facility’s full-disclosure policy won the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Award for advocacy sponsored by the National Quality Forum and the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. Both Dr. Kraman and his colleague, Ginny Hamm, JD have authored several papers and have been frequent speakers to healthcare organizations on the subjects of risk management, patient safety and how full-disclosure helps protect hospitals and doctors from lawsuits while assuring justice for the victims of medical errors.

In August of 2003, Dr. Kraman retired from Federal employment and become a full-time member of the Pulmonary and Critical Care faculty and Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine of the University of Kentucky School of Medicine.
  Kathleen E. Oden, RN, BSN, CWOCN
Kathy Oden, a board-certified wound, ostomy and continence nurse, has been working as a nurse for over 30 years, 26 of them at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. In addition to her current position as a certified enterostomal therapist, Kathy has also worked as a staff nurse on the burn, urology and plastic surgery units, and as an educator for the Hospital Information System.

Kathy attended the Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing Education program sponsored by Wicks Educational Associates, Inc., in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1991. Currently, her primary responsibilities are to assist with the clinical management and rehabilitation of patients with wounds, ostomies and fistulae.

Kathy is a member of the local Hampton Roads ET nurses affiliate and the national Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nursing Organization and is currently working on an article titled “Maximizing Your Potential to Decrease Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcers.”
  James L. Reinertsen, MD

James L. Reinertsen, M.D., heads The Reinertsen Group, an independent consulting and teaching practice helping senior leaders to build health care organizations that deliver care at the levels of quality and safety that their patients deserve, and to which their staffs aspire. He brings to this work an unusual combination of experiences:

  • He practiced rheumatology for twenty years, earning a reputation as a superb, patient-centered consultant
  • He was a respected CEO of complex health care systems in two challenging markets, Minneapolis and Boston, over a fifteen-year span
  • Throughout his career, he has functioned as an innovative thought leader in health care leadership development, clinical quality improvement, patient safety, and health care market design. 

Dr. Reinertsen now brings his skills and experience to the Institute for Health Care Improvement in Boston, where he is a Senior Fellow and directs IHI’s Executive Quality Academy, and to hospitals and health care systems throughout the United States and Europe.  He was a subcommittee member of the Institute of Medicine’s work that produced the landmark publications  “To Err Is Human” and “Crossing the Quality Chasm,” and continues to author influential papers in major medical journals.

From July 1998 to August, 2001, Dr. Reinertsen was Chief Executive Officer of both CareGroup, a six hospital, 1400 physician system, and of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of the Harvard Medical School. During his tenure at CareGroup, he was also Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Before his engagement at CareGroup, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Park Nicollet Health Services (formerly HealthSystem Minnesota) in Minneapolis, an integrated care system that includes Methodist Hospital and Park Nicollet Clinic.  He was President and CEO of Park Nicollet Medical Center from 1986 to 1992, and President of Park Nicollet Medical Foundation from 1983 to 1985. 

From 1992 to 1997, Dr. Reinertsen was Chairman of the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI), a collaborative effort to develop and implement best practices in health care, sponsored by the Buyers Health Care Action Group, Park Nicollet, Mayo Clinic, and HealthPartners ‑ a Twin Cities health plan.  ICSI is a nationally recognized example of what physician groups that otherwise compete with each other can accomplish when they collaborate around common professional and business goals.

A frequently invited speaker on these issues for physician, hospital, and integrated delivery system organizations, he also has authored more than 40 articles in journals such as Health Affairs, Annals of Internal Medicine, British Medical Journal, New England Journal of Medicine, and the Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement.

Dr. Reinertsen’s new book, Ten Powerful Ideas for Patient Care Improvement, coauthored with Dr. Wim Schellekens, CEO of the Dutch Institute for Quality, was published by Health Administration Press in April 2005.

Dr. Reinertsen is Past President of the American Medical Group Association, and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine. 

He joined Park Nicollet Medical Center as a consultant in rheumatology in 1978, following two years as a Clinical Associate at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.  A member of Alpha Omega Alpha, he received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1973, and completed an internship at San Francisco General Hospital in 1974, and a residency at the University of California Hospital in 1976.  Doctor Reinertsen is a 1969 summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of St. Olaf College in Minnesota.  He makes his home in Alta, Wyoming. 

  Wally R. Smith, MD
Dr. Wally Smith has had a distinguished career in medicine, with emphasis on internal medicine, prevention, and clinical epidemiology. His current positions at VCU include Chair of the Division of Quality Health Care, Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Director of the General Medicine Fellowship, and Director of the Masters Degree program in Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He has almost 20 years of experience in teaching and performing critical reviews of the medical literature. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in clinical epidemiology, medical decision making, decision analysis, quality measurement and improvement, and their application to clinical policy. He has clinical trials experience, both in educational and pharmaceutical interventions. He has served as principal investigator for projects for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, National Institutes of Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services. Dr. Smith is currently principal investigator for the NHLBI-funded study of the epidemiology of pain in sickle cell disease and program director for the HRSA-funded Institutional National Research Service Award in Primary Care. In addition to his clinical research, Dr. Smith has led or participated in a number of health services research studies, including the Virginia Telemedicine Evaluation; several evaluations of quality of care in Medicaid services; and several studies of the impact of social and cultural factors on access, quality, and use of health services.
  Louis W. Sullivan, MD
Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., is the founding Dean and first President of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). With the exception of his tenure as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 1989 to 1993, Dr. Sullivan was President of MSM for more than two decades. On July 1, 2002, he left the presidency, but continues to serve on the MSM Board of Trustees, to teach, and to assist in national fund-raising activities on behalf of the school.

A native of Atlanta, Dr. Sullivan graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College in 1954, and earned his medical degree, cum laude, from Boston University School of Medicine in 1958. He is certified in internal medicine and hematology.

Dr. Sullivan was instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1963-64, and assistant professor of medicine at Seton Hall College of Medicine from 1964-65. In 1966, he became co-director of hematology at Boston University Medical Center and, a year later, founded the Boston University Hematology Service at Boston City Hospital. Dr. Sullivan joined the Boston University School of Medicine in 1966 and remained until 1975, holding positions as assistant professor of medicine, associate professor of medicine, and professor of medicine.

Dr. Sullivan became the founding Dean and Director of the Medical Education Program at Morehouse College in 1975. The program became The School of Medicine at Morehouse College in 1978, admitting its first 24 students to a two-year program in the basic medical sciences. In 1981, the school became independent from Morehouse College and became Morehouse School of Medicine, with Dr. Sullivan as Dean and President. In 1983, MSM became a member of the Atlanta University Center. MSM was fully accredited as a four-year medical school in April 1985 and awarded its first 16 M.D. degrees in May of that year.

Dr. Sullivan left MSM in 1989 to accept an appointment by President George H.W. Bush to head HHS. In this post, Dr. Sullivan managed the federal agency responsible for the major health, welfare, food and drug safety, medical research and income security programs serving the American people. In January 1993, he returned to MSM and resumed the office of president.

Dr. Sullivan is Chairman of the board of the National Health Museum in Washington, D.C. ad is also Chairman of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce (funded by the Kellogg Foundation). He also serves as Chair of the President’s Commission on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and is Co-Chair of the President’s Commission on HIV and AIDS.

A member of numerous medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association, Dr. Sullivan was the founding President of the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools. He is a former member of the Joint Committee on Health Policy of the Association of American Universities and the national Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities.

Dr. Sullivan is married to Ginger, an attorney, and they have three children, Paul, Shanta, and Halsted.

  Gary R. Yates, MD
Gary R. Yates, MD is Sentara 's Chief Medical Officer. In that capacity, he is responsible for the clinical effectiveness programs, physician integration efforts, and medical management issues for its 6-hospital system and 320,000 member health plan. A board certified family physician and fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Dr. Yates is a member of the clinical faculty at the Eastern Virginia Medical School. Dr. Yates joined Sentara in 1996 and has been responsible for developing Sentara's clinical effectiveness and patient safety initiatives. He provided leadership for the quality and patient safety initiatives leading to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital being recognized as the 2004 recipient of the AHA's Quest for Quality Award and Sentara Healthcare being recognized as the 2005 recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from JCAHO and the National Quality Forum.

He previously served as Chairman, Department of Family and Community Medicine and Chief Quality Officer for Maricopa Health System in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Yates also served three years as a judge for the Arizona Governor’s Award for Quality, as a member of the Executive Committee for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI) Quality Management Network and as co-chair of IHI's ninth annual Nation Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care. He currently serves as President of Virginians Improving Patient Care and Safety (VIPCS), the statewide patient safety consortium for Virginia. Dr. Yates was awarded the 2005 Physician Executive Award of Excellence from Modern Physician and the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE).

Dr. Yates is a nationally recognized thought leader on the role of Boards, Management and Physicians in accelerating the pace of improvement in quality and patient safety, creating a stronger culture of safety in healthcare organizations, and adapting strategies from high-reliability organizations in other industries to improve quality and safety in healthcare.