Christine K. Cassel

Christine K. Cassel

Christine K. Cassel, MD, President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and ABIM Foundation, was previously President of the American Federation for Aging Research and the American College of Physicians. She also formerly served as Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs at Oregon Health & Science University, Chair of the Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. During her 10 years at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, she served as Chief of General Internal Medicine, Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine, Founding Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, and Founding Director of the Center for Health Policy Research. She is highly regarded in the fields of geriatric medicine, medical ethics and quality of care.

Dr. Cassel is one of 20 scientists chosen by U.S. President Barack Obama to serve on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and is co-Chair and Physician Leader of a PCAST working group that made recommendations to the President on issues relating to health information technology. She served on the Institute of Medicine(IOM)'s Comparative Effective Research (CER) Committee mandated by Congress to set priorities for the national CER effort. She also served on the IOM committee that wrote the influential report, "To Err Is Human" and "Crossing the Quality Chasm". In 2010, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Cassel among the 50 most powerful physicians.

Among her many professional leadership positions, Dr. Cassel is past-Chair of the ABIM Board of Directors and ABIM Foundation, served as Chair of the Board of the Greenwall Foundation, which supports work in bioethics; is immediate past-President of the American Federation for Aging Research; and was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director at the National Institutes of Health. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1992, and was a member of the IOM Governing Council and has served on previous IOM committees responsible for influential reports on quality of care and medical errors, chaired a recent report on end-of-life care, and co-chaired a report on public health. In 1997-98, Dr. Cassel served on the President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. She is a fellow of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research institution.

Dr. Cassel was formerly Chair of the Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development and Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. During 10 years at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Cassel was Chief of the Section of General Internal Medicine, Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine, Founding Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, and Founding Director of the Center for Health Policy Research.