Kenneth W. Kizer

Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer is Director of the Institute for Population Health Improvement, UC Davis Health System, and a Distinguished Professor in the UC Davis School of Medicine (Department of Emergency Medicine) and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

Dr. Kizer’s professional experience includes positions in academia and the public and private sectors. His previous positions have included: President, CEO and Chairman of Medsphere Systems Corporation, the nation’s leading commercial provider of open source healthcare information technology; founding President and CEO, National Quality Forum, a Washington, DC-based quality improvement and consensus standards setting organization; Under Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and chief executive officer of the nation’s largest healthcare system; Director, California Department of Health Services; and Director, Emergency Medical Services Authority, State of California. He has served on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and as Chairman of the Board of The California Wellness Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted to health promotion and disease prevention, as well as on the governing boards of managed care and health IT companies, several foundations and various professional associations and non-profit organizations. He also has worked in various capacities over the years with numerous foreign countries on health-related matters.