Brent James, M.D., is known internationally for his work in clinical quality improvement, patient safety, and the infrastructure that underlies successful improvement efforts, such as culture change, data systems, payment methods, and management roles.

Dr. James is Chief Quality Officer and Executive Director of the Institute for Health Care Delivery Research at Intermountain Healthcare, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Intermountain is an integrated system of 23 hospitals, almost 100 clinics, a 550+ member physician group, and an HMO/PPO insurance plan jointly responsible for more than 500,000 covered lives serving patients in Utah, Idaho, and at a tertiary level, seven surrounding States).

Through the Intermountain Advanced Training Program in Clinical Practice Improve¬ment (ATP), Dr. James has trained more than 2200 senior physician, nursing, and administrative executives, drawn from around the world, in clinical management methods, with proven improvement results (with 27 “daughter” training programs now running in 6 countries).

Before coming to Intermountain, Dr. James was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health, providing statistical support for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG - focused on GI tumors), and he staffed the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.

He is a member of the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine (and participated in many of that organization’s seminal works on quality and patient safety). He holds faculty appointments at the University of Utah School of Medicine (Family Medicine and Biomedical Informatics), Harvard School of Public Health (Health Policy and Management), and the University of Sydney, Australia, School of Public Health.

He holds a B.S. in Computer Science (Electrical Engineering) and Medical Biology; an M.D. (with residency training in general surgery and oncology); and an M.Stat.

He serves on several non-profit boards of trustees, dedicated to clinical improvement.