David Bates, MD

David Bates is Chief, Division of General Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Medical Director, Clinical and Quality Analysis at Partners HealthCare System, Inc. He is also an Associate Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and has a joint appointment at Harvard School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Dr. Bates received his BS degree in Chemistry from Stanford University, his MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and his MSc from Harvard School of Public Health (Department of Health Policy and Management). He completed residency training in internal medicine at the Oregon Health Sciences University and a postdoctoral research fellowship in medicine at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bates' primary informatics interest has been the use of computerized decision support to improve safety and thereby reduce the costs of care. A particular focus has been on improving the systems by which drugs are given, to reduce the frequency of medication errors and adverse drug events. One study he led demonstrated that implementation of computerized physician order entry reduced the rate of serious medication errors by 55 percent. Other research interests include affecting physicians' decision making, particularly using computerized interventions; quality of care and cost-effectiveness in medical practice; and outcomes assessment. Dr. Bates has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Research Service Award; the Henry Christian Award for Excellence in Research; the Culpeper Award; the Young Investigator of the Year from the Society of General Internal Medicine, Northeast Region; Clinical Investigator of the Year, Center for Healthcare Information Management; the Partners in Excellence Award Quality Treatment and Service and Leadership and Innovation; and the Cheers Award for Outstanding Contribution to Medication Error Prevention from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Dr. Bates is a Scientific Advisor, SCRIPT Project, Health Care Financing Administration and Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and is on the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Awards Committee. He is also a Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy mentor, The Commonwealth Fund; a member of the Safe Steering Committee, National Quality Forum (NQF); and a member of the Safe Medication Use Expert Committee, U.S. Pharmacopeia. Dr. Bates is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, and The Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement.