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Karen Davis Named to Lead Lipitz Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

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After serving two decades as president of The Commonwealth Fund, Karen Davis, PhD, is returning to the John Hopkins community, where she previously chaired the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Davis has been appointed the second Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management and director of the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care.  She assumes her new position on January 1, 2013.

Davis is a national leader in health policy and is frequently called on to provide guidance to individual members of Congress and the Administration on issues related to health care spending, delivery systems for the uninsured and the chronically ill, the Medicare program, and the impact of a high-performing health care system.

 “There is a reason our search to fill the Lipitz Professorship was so exhaustive,” said Michael J. Klag, MD, MPH, dean of the Bloomberg School. “We were unwavering in our determination to confirm the ideal candidate to further the legacy established by the Lipitz family to serve, empower and support the elderly. Karen’s vast experience and passion for improving the health and quality of life for people with complex health care needs, and her commitment to our mission, charted the perfect course for her return to Baltimore.”

“To say we are thrilled to have Karen back at Hopkins is an understatement,” said Ellen MacKenzie, PhD, Fred and Julie Soper Professor and Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management at the Bloomberg School.  “Her leadership, vision and expertise will form the new bedrock of the Roger C. Lipitz Center and define the Center’s course for generations to come.”   

The Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professorship and the Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care were established by Roger Lipitz, in honor of his family’s lifelong legacy of serving the elderly, the chronically ill and underserved populations.  The Roger C. Lipitz Center for Integrated Health Care is committed to improving the health of people whose conditions require complex, continuing, professional care. The Center promotes multidisciplinary research and education on methods for coordinating the efforts of health care professionals, hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, rehabilitation facilities, emergency departments, and outpatient facilities in caring for people with chronic conditions. The Center strives to discover and disseminate practical, cost-effective approaches to providing comprehensive, coordinated and compassionate health care to chronically ill people and their families.

“I am excited about the opportunity to head the Lipitz Center and continue its important work on developing new, innovative health care payment and delivery models in order to improve care for our nation’s most vulnerable and the disabled,” said Davis.  “With the imminent retirement of much of the boomer generation, the need for new models of patient-centered care that improve quality of care while advancing efficiency is paramount.”  

Chad Boult, MD, MPH, MBA, the first to fill the Eugene and Mildred Lipitz Professorship and the inaugural director of the Lipitz Center, led the Center’s pioneering work on the Guided Care model, which is recognized as the blue chip standard of care for older adults who are chronically ill (www.guidedcare.org).  Boult recently left Hopkins to head the Program on Improving Healthcare Systems at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute in Washington, D.C.  

Davis received her PhD in economics from Rice University.  She has received numerous domestic and international awards.  She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, the New York Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal College of Physicians and recently received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor from the American Hospital Association.

Headquartered in New York, NY, The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation supporting independent research on health policy reform and promoting a high-performance health system.

Media contact: Tim Parsons, director of Public Affairs, at 410-955-7619 or tmparson@jhsph.edu.