December 7 | 6:15 PM

Bob Wachter

Presented by the IHI Lucian Leape Institute
Supported by: 

Robert M. Wachter, MD is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Author of 300 articles and 6 books, he coined the term “hospitalist” in 1996 and is often considered the “father” of the hospitalist field, the fastest-growing medical specialty in U.S. history. He is a past president of the Society of Hospital Medicine, past chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine, a Master of the American College of Physicians, and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. In 2004, he received the John M. Eisenberg Award, the nation’s top honor in patient safety. Modern Healthcare magazine has ranked him among the 50 most influential physician-executives in the U.S. more than a dozen times; he was #1 on the list in 2015. His 2015 book, The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age, was a New York Times bestseller. His new book, A Giant Leap: How AI is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future, was an instant Amazon and USA Today national bestseller.

December 9 | 8:30 AM

Katie Boston-Leary

Plus, presentation of The DAISY Award^® for Extraordinary Nurses in Patient Safety
Supported by:  

Katie Boston-Leary, PhD, MBA, MHA, RN, NEA-BC, FADLN, FAONL, FAAN is the Senior Vice President of Equity and Engagement at the American Nurses Association addressing DEIAB and workforce challenges within the profession. Katie is a TED speaker and sits on numerous boards and national committees in nursing and healthcare including St John’s University, Black Male Nurse Leaders (NBMNL) Board of Directors and is an editorial advisory board member with Nursing Management, Journal of Nursing Management, Nursing 2025, OADN and ACHE. Katie leads the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing Forum an organized ANA’s inaugural Equity Summit in Washington, DC.

Katie is a 2024 ICN Global Nurse Leaders Institute Scholar and was previously identified in by Health Leaders Media as “One of Five Chief Nursing Officers Changing Healthcare”. She also won the ICABA TD Bank 2023 Woman of Impact award, the 2024 Spectrum Circle Award for Innovation in Health and won the 2025 National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) President’s Trailblazer Award. She was inducted as a Distinguished Fellow at the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing with the NBNA, is a Fellow with American Organization of Nursing Leadership (AONL), the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She was recently named as an honored listee on Marquis’ Who’s Who in America.

Katie authored two chapters in The Sage Encyclopedia of Multicultural Counseling, Social Justice, and Advocacy, the first encyclopedia focused on racism and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging. Katie was also featured in the award-winning documentary film, Everybody’s Work funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She recently co-authored a Sigma published book titled Harmony by Design, Navigating Work and Life in Healthcare and held a TEDx Talk titled Leadfully, a framework on leading leveraging our natural human gifts.

She has conducted research on care delivery models, time allocation, nurses’ well-being, racism and civilized oppression in nursing with Quint Studer, Joslin Insight and McKinsey. She is a well-known speaker internationally with many publications, podcasts and national outlets namely CNBC, NY Times, Cheddar TV, Axios, Beckers, Forbes, Bloomberg News and on NBC’s Today Show. She completed her PhD at Walden University in Health Services, obtained a dual degree MBA and MHA from the University of Maryland Global Campus and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Bowie State University in Maryland.  She is a board-certified Nurse Executive and obtained a nurse executive leadership certificate from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. 

December 10 | 1:45 PM

Don Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, KBE

Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, KBE, is President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an organization he co-founded and led as President and CEO for 19 years. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on health care quality and improvement. In July 2010, President Obama appointed Dr. Berwick to the position of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which he held until December 2011. A pediatrician by background, Dr. Berwick has served as Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Health Care Policy at the Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, and as a member of the staffs of Boston’s Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has also served as vice chair of the US Preventive Services Task Force, the first “Independent Member” of the Board of Trustees of the American Hospital Association, and chair of the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. He is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM, formerly the Institute of Medicine, or IOM). Dr. Berwick served two terms on the IOM’s governing Council, was a member of the IOM’s Global Health Board, and currently chairs the NAM Board on Health Care Services. He served on President Clinton’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Healthcare Industry. His numerous awards include the 2007 William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research, the 2006 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Award, and the 2007 Heinz Award for Public Policy. In 2005, he was appointed Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the highest honor in the UK for non-UK citizens. He is the author or co-author of more than 200 scientific articles and six books. He also currently serves as Lecturer in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School.