Dr. John E. Ware Jr. is an internationally recognized leader in health outcomes assessment and quality of life measurement. He currently serves as Professor and Chief of Outcomes Measurement Science in the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Ware earned his PhD in Measurements/Statistics from Southern Illinois University in 1974 following undergraduate and master's studies at Pepperdine University. His distinguished career includes 15 years as Senior Research Psychologist at RAND Corporation developing outcome measures for the Health Insurance Experiment and a 12-year tenure as Senior Scientist at Tufts Medical Center where he led the landmark Medical Outcomes Study.
Dr. Ware revolutionized patient-reported outcomes assessment through his development of the SF-36 Health Survey, which has become the global standard for measuring health-related quality of life across clinical trials and healthcare systems worldwide. His leadership of the IQOLA Project generated over 100 translations of the SF-36, establishing it as a culturally validated instrument used in more than 100 countries. With more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, his methodological innovations have advanced the application of modern psychometric techniques to create practical measurement tools that bridge research and clinical practice. The widespread adoption of his instruments in regulatory contexts demonstrates their profound impact on how healthcare outcomes are evaluated and monitored across diverse populations and healthcare settings.
As an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Ware has significantly influenced national conversations about patient-centered outcomes and healthcare quality measurement. His founding and leadership of QualityMetric Incorporated for a decade exemplified his commitment to translating research into practical applications that meet evolving regulatory requirements for healthcare outcomes assessment. Currently, he continues to innovate by developing more actionable measurement scales, including the first disease-specific quality of life impact scale standardized across conditions and normed in a representative chronically ill population. Dr. Ware remains actively engaged in advancing the science of patient-reported outcomes, with his work increasingly shaping value-based healthcare initiatives and regulatory frameworks that prioritize patient perspectives in treatment evaluation.
