James Bagian MD, PE

Dr. James Bagian is a physician and engineer who currently serves as the Director of the Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety at the University of Michigan and focuses on creating solutions that will make healthcare safer, as well as more effective and efficient, for patients. Previously, he served as the first Chief Patient Safety Officer and Founding Director of the National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). He has also held positions as a NASA physician and astronaut, U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, and engineer at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Navy, and Environmental Protection Agency.

Dr. Bagian was selected in 1998 by the VA to establish NCPS and became its first Director. He developed and implemented an innovative national program, aimed at protecting patients from hospital-based harm, which the VA has implemented at all 173 VA hospitals. Moreover, this program is the benchmark for patient safety in hospitals worldwide and earned the Innovations in American Government Award in 2001 from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.