2007 David E. Rogers Award

Robert H. Brook, M.D., Sc.D.
RAND Corporation
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health

That a U.S. president would devote an entire news conference to medical errors—as President Bill Clinton did following the Institute of Medicine's 1999 report, "To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System"—was "inconceivable" 30 years ago, says Joseph P. Newhouse, Ph.D., director, and professor of health policy and management for Harvard University. But the fact that quality of health care services so quickly garnered national attention, says Dr. Newhouse, is due largely to the young physician scientist he hired at the RAND Corporation in 1973: Robert H. Brook.

Originally recruited to work on the RAND Health Insurance Experiment, Dr. Robert Brook is today vice president and director for RAND Health. He is also professor of medicine and geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and professor of health services at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health.

Without question, say his colleagues, Dr. Brook invented the field of quality measurement and outcomes of care, shifting focus from what care patients receive, to how they fare as a result. In so doing, he not only pioneered a new way of looking at health care, but also promoted greater recognition of the (then) emerging field of health services research. Additionally, he led the way at RAND for studies focusing on the health status and outcomes of vulnerable populations (the frail elderly, HIV-positive individuals, children with special health needs, the mentally ill) for whom standard measures are often inappropriate.

At the national level, Dr. Brook's work has virtually transformed the U.S. health care landscape, putting quality measurement and improvement high atop the agendas of public and private decision-makers, the medical profession and the public. He has frequently testified before Congress regarding health care quality and provided legislative staff with technical assistance drafting legislation and report language.

Dr. Brook's far-reaching impact also extends to new generations of physician-scientists now engaged in research in the U.S. and abroad. As head of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program since the program's inception, Dr. Brook directed the education of more than 300 clinician scientists including a former U.S. Surgeon General (David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.). According to one past student, "Bob is one of the most incredible mentors ever placed on earth. He's like the sand in the oyster—he agitates people to become the best they can be."

Dr. Brook received his B.S. in chemistry from the University of Arizona, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After earning his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he completed his residency, internship, and fellowship at Baltimore City Hospitals, and remained in Baltimore to earn his Sc.D. degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (now the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health).

Among Dr. Brook's numerous honors and recognitions is the Gustav O. Lienhard Award for the advancement of personal health services, the Institute of Medicine's highest honor. He has also received the Baxter Foundation Prize for excellence in health services research as well as the Distinguished Health Services Research Award of the Association of Health Services Research, the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award of the American College of Physicians for improving the health of the nation, and the Robert J. Glaser Award of the Society of General Internal Medicine. In 2000, he was awarded the Peter Reizenstein Prize for his paper "Defining and Measuring Quality of Care: A Perspective from U.S. Researchers," and the National Committee for Quality Assurance Health Quality Award for pursuit of health care quality at all levels of the health system. Additionally, he was selected by his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, as one of its 75 "Heroes of Public Health," and, in 2000, was recognized with the Research!America Award for Sustained Leadership at the National Level.

About the David E. Rogers Award

The David E. Rogers Award is sponsored by the AAMC and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The award honors David E. Rogers, M.D., a former president of the foundation and an exemplar of academic medicine's commitment to meeting the health care needs of our nation. The award recognizes a medical school faculty member who has made major contributions to improving the health and health care of the American people.

Find out more about the David E. Rogers Award.