Dr. David Westfall Bates is a preeminent leader in patient safety research and healthcare quality improvement, currently serving as Medical Director of Clinical and Quality Analysis at Mass General Brigham and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. After earning his BS in Chemistry from Stanford University and MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, he completed his internal medicine residency at Oregon Health Sciences University followed by a fellowship in general internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital beginning in 1988. He further enhanced his expertise by obtaining an MSc in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1990, establishing the foundation for his pioneering work at the intersection of clinical medicine and health systems improvement. For twenty-five years until June 2023, he served as Chief of the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he also directed the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, shaping institutional approaches to quality measurement and improvement across healthcare systems.
Dr. Bates pioneered seminal research on the epidemiology of adverse drug events, conducting groundbreaking studies that demonstrated how computerized physician order entry systems could dramatically reduce medication-related harm in healthcare settings. His influential work, beginning with the implementation of CPOE at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1993, provided the evidence base for healthcare systems nationwide to adopt technology-driven solutions for improving medication safety across diverse patient populations and care settings. With over 700 peer-reviewed publications and an impressive h-index of 115, his research has fundamentally transformed approaches to patient safety, establishing that system-level improvements rather than individual blame represent the most effective strategy for preventing serious medication errors. His methodologies for evaluating and implementing health information technology have been widely adopted across academic medical centers globally, making him one of the most cited researchers in biomedical informatics and clinical safety research.
As Executive Director of the Brigham and Women's Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, Dr. Bates has cultivated an international reputation as a thought leader who bridges clinical practice with informatics innovation to enhance healthcare quality and safety. He has held significant leadership roles including former President of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare, past chair of the American Medical Informatics Association, and current Editor of the Journal of Patient Safety, shaping the global discourse on healthcare quality improvement standards. Recognized repeatedly by Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the '100 most powerful' individuals in U.S. health care, he has also been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine for his transformative contributions to patient safety research. His ongoing work continues to advance the integration of artificial intelligence and health information systems to further reduce medical errors, optimize patient care, and establish new standards for quality measurement across healthcare delivery systems worldwide.
