U-M Recruits Director for New Healthcare Institute

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ANN ARBOR — John Z. Ayanian, a Harvard University doctor and leader in health policy research, will head a new University of Michigan Healthcare Institute.

U-M President Mary Sue Coleman announced the appointment of John Z. Ayanian, M.D., MPP, as the first director of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI).

Ayanian will become the director of one of the world’s largest groups of health care and health policy researchers, involving more than 400 experts from across U-M and partner organizations.

Beginning in November, he will work with those members to develop IHPI’s potential as one of the nation’s powerhouses of health services research, health care policy development and new ideas in health care delivery.

“John’s stellar credentials include work on a broad range of health care issues, from uninsurance and disparities in care to the factors that impact the quality of care,” says Coleman, who worked with Ayanian on the Institute of Medicine’s landmark Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance. “As we build this institute to leverage the vast expertise of our faculty and partners, I am confident John will lead in a way that will help our research make the most impact.”

Medical School Dean James O. Woolliscroft notes that Ayanian’s particular blend of skills give him an excellent background for shaping IHPI and fulfilling its potential.

“With experience in the clinical realm, and in the world of public policy, he’s uniquely poised to ensure that the work of IHPI members translates into action to improve the way health care is provided, paid for and regulated,” he says.

Ayanian is currently a professor of medicine and of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, a professor in health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a practicing primary care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Since 2008, he has directed the Health Disparities Research Program of Harvard Catalyst, Harvard’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Center, the Outcomes Research Program of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and the Harvard Medical School Fellowship in General Medicine and Primary Care.

He studies the effects of race, ethnicity, gender and insurance coverage on access to care and clinical outcomes, and the impact of physician specialty and organizational characteristics on the quality of care for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other major health conditions.