David W. Bates, MD, MSc

Dr. David Westfall Bates is the Medical Director of Clinical and Quality Analysis, Information Systems at Partners HealthCare System, Inc. He is on the executive committee for the Center of Information Technology Leadership (C!TL) at Partners HealthCare System, Inc. Dr. Bates is Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, where he is the Co-Director of the Program in Clinical Effectiveness. He is the Board Chair of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and External Program Leader, Patient Safety Research, WHO World Health Alliance for Patient Safety, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

He is the recipient of the first John M. Eisenberg Award for Excellence in Patient Safety Research from the Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, and the Award of Honor from the Association of Health-Systems Pharmacists.

Dr. Bates is the Director of one of three national Centers of Excellence for Patient Safety Research and Practice supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, that focuses on improving medication safety across the continuum of care and patient groups. He is also the Executive Director of the Brigham and Women's Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice.

Dr. Bates received a Bachelors of Science Degree in Chemistry from Stanford University, a Doctorate of Medicine from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and a Masters of Science in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health.  After his residency training in Internal Medicine at Oregon Health Services University in Portland, he completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in medicine at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. In 1987, Dr. Bates held a faculty position at the Oregon Health Sciences University, and then joined the Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1988.

Dr. Bates' primary informatics focus concerns the use of information technology to measure and improve the quality of care within the field of medication safety. He has completed extensive research evaluating the incidence and prevention of adverse drug events (ADEs), and clinical decision support. Other areas of research interest include: evaluating the impact of patient computing applications, improving provider satisfaction through electronic communications, improving quality of care and cost-effectiveness in electronic communications, and outcomes assessment.  He is currently evaluating the impact of guidelines delivered when using electronic medical records, on quality of care.