James P. Bagian, MD, PE

Director

Director James P. Bagian, MD, PE, is the founding Director of the Center for Risk Analysis Informed Decision Engineering, the Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety, and a Professor in the Medical School and the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. Dr. Bagian is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Preventive Medicine and an elected Member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine. Previously, Dr. Bagian served as a Member of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, Chairman of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) first Patient Safety meeting in 2002, and a Member of the WHO Steering Committee of the Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety. He was a charter member and served as Chairman of The Joint Commission’s Patient Safety Advisory Group. He was also the first and founding Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Center for Patient Safety and the VA’s first Chief Patient Safety Officer, a role in which he developed numerous patient safety–related tools and programs that have been adopted nationally and internationally. Prior to his work at the VA, Dr. Bagian was a NASA Astronaut for over 15 years; he is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions. He serves on The Doctors Company Board of Governors, as Chair of the company’s Technology and Cybersecurity Committee, and as a Member of its Audit, Finance and Risk, Nominating and Governance, and Patient Safety Committees.