The Board of Commissioners of The Joint Commission has announced the appointment of Mark R. Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH, to lead The Joint Commission as its next president. The appointment is effective January 1, 2008.

"Mark Chassin is a superb choice to guide The Joint Commission into the future," says Dennis S. O'Leary, MD, who has led The Joint Commission for the past 21 years, will become President Emeritus of The Joint Commission on January 1, 2008.

Dr. Chassin is the Edmond A. Guggenheim Professor of Health Policy and Chairman of the Department of Health Policy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and Executive Vice President for Excellence in Patient Care at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Chassin served as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health. He is a board-certified internist and practiced emergency medicine for 12 years. His background also includes service in the federal government and many years of health services and health policy research. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and co-chaired its National Roundtable on Health Care Quality.
While at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Chassin built a nationally recognized quality improvement program which focuses on achieving substantial gains in all aspects of quality of care, encompassing safety, clinical outcomes, the experiences of patients and families, and the working environment of caregivers. In addition, Dr. Chassin has led successful efforts to introduce Six Sigma quality improvement methods in Mount Sinai's hospital and medical school, using them to enhance both patient safety and the efficiency of operations. His research during his 12 years at Mount Sinai has focused on developing healthcare quality measures; using those measures in quality improvement; and understanding the relationship of quality measurement and improvement to health policy. More recently, he has expanded his research program to include a number of intervention trials that concentrate on reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare.

In 2001, Dr. Chassin was recognized for his contributions to the fields of quality measurement and improvement with several honors. He was selected in the first group of honorees as a lifetime member of the National Associates of the National Academies, a new program of the National Academy of Sciences recognizing career contributions to the National Academies. He also received the Founders Award of the American College of Medical Quality and the Ellwood Individual Award of the Foundation for Accountability.

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