Paul Barach

Lecturer, Senior Advisor to the Dean College of Population Health, Thomas Jefferson University
Paul Barach, MD, MPH, Maj (ret.), is a double-boarded anesthesiologist and critical care physician-scientist, public health researcher and educator. He is Lecturer and senior advisor to Dean, Jefferson College of Population Health, Professor Sigmund Freud University, Austria; Visiting Professor Milan Polytechnic, Italy; Visiting Professor at the National Cancer Center in Seoul, Korea; Honorary Professor, University of Queensland, Australia; and Visiting Professor, Riphah University, Pakistan. He trained at the Massachusetts General Hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Paul is an elected member of the lead honorary society the Association of University Anesthesiologists, former member of ASA and WFSA Patient Safety and Quality committees, and former Chair of the Patient Safety commission for the World Society of Intravenous Anesthesia. He serves as President, J Bara Innovation which advises governments and hospitals in helathcare improvement. He advises several digital health start-ups. He has held academic positions at Universities of Chicago, Miami, Utrecht, Oslo, and Wayne State University School of Medicine. He serves as President, J Bara Innovation and advises governments, hospitals, and digital health start-ups.

Dr. Barach is deeply committed to translating research into strategies for systems strengthening, patient safety, health protection and disease prevention. He has more than 25 years of experience as a practicing physician and physician executive in the military and in academic medical centers and integrated delivery systems. He is a formally trained health services researcher, with advanced post graduate training in advanced medical education and assessment methods from the Harvard Medical School Josiah Macy Program medical education, lean six sigma, quality improvement and lean techniques at Intermountain Healthcare. He has had additional training in epidemiology and statistics including both methodological as well as applied HTA research. Prior to that he spent five years in the military and was involved in team training, leadership and simulation work.

Theories and ideas he helped shape and provided research findings for are now in common use as a result of his work include: TeamSTEPPS, surgical team training, human factors tools, multi-method, triangulated approaches to research, governance of health systems, and interprofessional learning and culture change to achieve safe and reliable outcomes. His work has led to over $16M in federal competitive grant funding including ongoing grant awards from NIH, HRSA, EU Erasmus Plus and Korean Government.

Dr. Barach served as Editor of the British Medical Journal Safety and Quality and is Associate Editor of Pediatric Cardiology. He has published more than 300 scientific papers and five books and his work has been widely cited. He has presented at or chaired international and national conferences, workshops, symposia and meetings on more than 500 occasions, including over 60 keynote addresses. His books include Surgical Patient Care Improving Safety, Quality and Value, Case Studies in Patient Safety Foundations for Core Competencies, Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Care Outcomes Analysis, and Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Care: Quality Improvement and Patient Safety.