2006 Patient Safety and Health IT Meeting

Overview | Key Speakers | Conference Materials |

Overview

June 4 - 7, 2006
Renaissance Hotel, Washington D.C.
Research funded by AHRQ in patient safety and health information technology is helping to revolutionize everyday clinical practice. The 2006 Patient Safety and Health IT Conference offers exciting opportunities to learn how this research is being used to support health information exchange and reduce medical errors. You'll also get a "first look" at longer-term work in progress to develop the evidence base for widespread Health IT adoption. This is one of the most important meetings of the year for anyone interested in new and emerging research around patient safety and health IT implementation.

Participants will include AHRQ grantees and contractors, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, technicians, health care researchers, quality improvement and risk assessment managers, and others committed to improving health care safety and quality.

Key Speakers

Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

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 the 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 care, 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.

David N. Sundwall, M.D.
Executive Director, Utah Department of Health 

Dr. David N. Sundwall is a primary care physician who has more than two decades of experience in public policy and service. He was born and raised in Murray, Utah, and believes he may have been genetically predisposed to become a medical professional like his father, Dr. Val Sundwall, great uncles Dr. Olaf Sundwall and Dr. John Sundwall, and brother, Dr. Peter Sundwall. After 23 years of working in various government and private sector health positions in Washington, D.C., he has returned home to lead the Utah Department of Health (UDOH). His nomination to serve as the Executive Director of theUDOH by Governor Jon Huntsman Jr, was confirmed by the Utah State Senate on January 17, 2005.

Dr. Sundwall earned his medical degree at the University of Utah College of Medicine and completed further training at the Harvard Family Medicine Residency Program. He remains on the faculty of the University of Utah School of Medicine as Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. Through his career he is proud to have maintained his clinical connection to patients. For the past 17 years he volunteered a half day each week at the HealthCare for Homeless Project, a public clinic near the U.S. Capital in Washington, D.C.

In a distinguished career of academic appointments, public service and policy development, Dr. Sundwall has been widely recognized for his professional achievements and contributions to healthcare policy and advocacy. Dr. Sundwall was most recently President of the American Clinical Laboratory Association from 1994 to 2003 and subsequently Senior Medical and Scientific Officer. He holds three medical school faculty appointments, including Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Georgetown University College of Medicine, Washington, D.C. He has held numerous positions in the public health sector: from 1988 to 1994, he was Vice President and Medical Director of American Healthcare Systems, an alliance of not-for-profit multi-hospital systems. Prior to that appointment, he was Administrator in the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Dr. Sundwall has served as an advisor, task force member and chairman of numerous committees involved with public health policy and quality including those connected with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. In addition, his federal experience included serving as the Assistant Surgeon General in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. During this period, he had adjunct responsibilities at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) including: Co-Chairman of the HHS Secretary's Task Force on Medical Liability and Malpractice, and was the HHS Secretary's Designee to the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality.

Dr. Sundwall is an author or coauthor of numerous publications in peer-reviewed medical literature. He has also contributed chapters to many books covering a broad spectrum of healthcare issues. He is licensed to practice medicine in the District of Columbia, and is a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). He is on the board of Trustees at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. He has many other national commitments that he will slowly phase out to pay close attention to his new position at the UDOH. 

Conference Materials

Sunday June 4, 2006

• Panel Discussion: Staying Connected: Strengthening Multi-Stakeholder Ties in an Environment of Change
• Structured Networking

Monday June 5, 2006 - Tuesday June 6, 2006