Donald M. Berwick

Physician Executive, Sept-Oct, 2005

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), has been appointed an honorary KBE (Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire) by HM Queen Elizabeth II. The award was made to Berwick in recognition of his "distinguished service to health care improvement in Britain's National Health Service." The knighthood is honorary, because Berwick is an American citizen. He will formally receive the honor in a ceremony later this year. Other Americans awarded honorary British knight-hoods in recent years include Bill Gates, Rudolph Giuliani, Alan Greenspan, and Steven Spielberg. Berwick joins only a handful of honorary recipients from the fields of science and medicine. Berwick and his colleagues at IHI have worked closely with the National Health Service (NHS) since the mid-1990s on projects such as a Modernisation Plan for the U.K. health care system. In addition to helping U.K. health care leaders incorporate and adapt the quality improvement methods of IHI and other U.S. institutions, Berwick has endeavored to provide an "outsider" and objective viewpoint for his colleagues in the U.K. Berwick was involved in the planning and program setup of the new National Patient Safety Agency. Recently, he became a Fellow at the Royal College of Physicians. Berwick has served on the staff of Children's Hospital in Boston since 1976.

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