The view from inside major medical centers
Participants in this panel, moderated by U.S. News Executive Editor Brian Kelly, included Dr. Thomas Burke, executive vice president and physician-in-chief at the University of Texas's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Dr. C. Ronald Kahn, president and director of the Joslin Diabetes Center; Dr. Edward D. Miller, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine; Dr. W. Frank Peacock IV, vice chief of research at the department of emergency medicine at the Cleveland Clinic; Vicki Running, administrative director of the Office of Service Continuity and Disaster Planning at Stanford University Medical Center; and Dr. Michael Salem, president and CEO of the National Jewish Medical and Research Center.
KELLY: We have assembled a collection of the leaders of some of the finest medical institutions in the country to try to pursue this topic. Secretary Leavitt, I think, got our attention with his remarks, particularly as it relates to the private sector, local institutions. And our thought was that if w could assemble some of the leaders of medical institutions who are on the front lines and get them to tell us very specifically their experience both in past disasters and where they are in terms of moving forward, this would be a valuable addition to the dialogue here.
I'll introduce briefly – I have to apologize; I have to get my specific bios. These are gentlemen and one lady who have biographies that would stun most of us in terms of the depth of their experience. Medical professionals, they have curriculum vitae, published works. Most of these are folks who have had great exposure in the specific clinical fields, but also have moved into management roles, so I think they all speak with tremendous authority. I could go on at great length about all of them, but let me just sort of quickly give you a sense.
Dr. Thomas Burke is executive vice president and physician-in-chief at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Medical Center. He's responsible for oversight and strategic planning for patient care delivery through the hospital clinics and outreach programs. Next to Dr. Burke is Dr. Ronald Kahn. He is an internationally recognized diabetes researcher. He is president and director of the Joslin Diabetes Center and the Mary Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has served on many national commissions and advisory boards, including as chairman of the congressionally established diabetes research working group. Dr. Ed Miller is the chief executive officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine, which is consistently ranked one of the best medical institutions in the United States. He is also vice president of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Frank Peacock is the chairman of emergency preparedness, as well as the vice chair for research at the Cleveland Clinic. He's also the medical director of event medicine at the clinic, which includes sports medicine for the Cleveland Browns, the Indians, and the Cavaliers, so that may be a disaster in the making if you're a Wizards fan. Vicki Running is the administrative director for general services and the administrative director for the office of service continuity and disaster planning at Stanford Medical Center. She has been with Stanford for more than 20 years, where she is responsible for disaster planning and environmental health and safety among other duties. And finally, Dr. Michael Salem. He is the president and CEO of the National Jewish Medical Center in Denver. He has two decades of experience in the healthcare industry as an academic researcher, surgeon, and healthcare entrepreneur, recently traveling on medical missions to Vietnam and Israel. If we can't answers from this group, I'm not sure where we will be able to get them.
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