David W. Bates, MD: a conversation with the editor on improving patient safety, quality of care, and outcomes by using information technology

David W. Bates, MD, and William C. Roberts, MD

David Bates was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on June 5, 1957. Early on, his family moved to Tucson, Arizona, and he grew up there. He graduated from Stanford University in 1979 and from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1983. His internship and residencies in internal medicine were at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon. He stayed on the faculty there briefly and then went to the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston, Massachusetts, as a research/clinical fellow in medicine. After completing that training in 1990, he stayed on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. In 2003, he was appointed full professor of medicine with a joint appointment as professor in the Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management. In 1998, he became chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine of the BWH. He also serves as medical director of clinical and quality analysis for Partners Healthcare Systems and briefly was medical director of the BWH physician-hospital organization. In 2001, he became editor in chief of the Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management.

Dr. Bates has written extensively in the areas of clinical decision making, quality of care, cost-effectiveness, outcome assessment, and the use of computerized interventions to affect physician behavior. His original articles in peer-reviewed medical journals number nearly 175, and his reviews, monographs, and editorials number nearly 100. For his contributions he has received a number of awards, including the Henry Christian Award for Excellence in Research from the American Federation of Clinical Research, the Cheers Award for Outstanding Contribution to Medication Error Prevention from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, and the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety Research from The National Quality Forum. Dr. Bates is the father of 2 promising children and is an avid bird watcher and mountain climber. He is also a nice guy, and he honored Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) by his recent visit.