The Institute of Medicine today presented the 2007 Gustav O. Lienhard Award for the advancement of health care services to Howard H. Hiatt, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and senior physician at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.  The award honors Hiatt for improving the performance of personal health services in the United States and around the world.

"Throughout his professional life, Howard Hiatt brought compassionate and innovative approaches to health and medical care," said Harvey V. Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine.   "He introduced fresh analytic methods to medical and public health education, fostered interdisciplinary approaches to complex health problems, cultivated a new generation of socially responsible physicians, illuminated key challenges to making best use of limited health resources, pioneered in research on patient safety, and championed successful programs to reduce health disparities.  Many of today's leaders in health can trace the roots of their accomplishments to the inspiration, example, and guidance of Howard Hiatt."

With a career that spans more than five decades, Hiatt has been hailed for improving health care services through the key principles of care, teaching, research, and advocacy.  He directly delivered care to thousands of patients as an oncologist, physician, and chief of medicine at Beth Israel Hospital and he has mentored and trained thousands of medical students and physicians. He led the application of decision analysis and clinical effectiveness programs that have greatly impacted improvements to patient safety and quality of care.  In addition, he has been a strong advocate on behalf of vulnerable populations in the United States and worldwide.

Hiatt's foundational contributions to health care span many disciplines and reach across the globe:

• As dean from 1972 to 1984, Hiatt made the Harvard School of Public Health a leader in the biological and decision sciences, health policy, and management.  He also mentored a generation of leaders in health care and public health.
• As physician and chief at Beth Israel Hospital from 1963 to 1972, he recruited a group of extremely able physician-scientists and also extended the hospital's involvement in Boston's inner city.
• He developed and led the Harvard Medical Practice Study, which has been credited as the most important investigation of medical malpractice in history.  It informed two landmark Institute of Medicine reports, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System (1999) and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century (2001). 
• He was a key leader in the creation of the division of social medicine and health inequalities at the Brigham and Womens' Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.  The division, created in 2001, was developed to address health disparities from a global perspective "through training, education, research and service." 
• Hiatt has played a significant role in the growth and success of Partners in Health (PIH), a Harvard-affiliated nonprofit organization focused on nurturing partnerships with poor countries to fight disease and poverty.  PIH has been a leader in bringing treatment of HIV and multiple-drug resistant tuberculosis to several countries, including Peru, Haiti, Russia, Rwanda, Lesotho, and Malawi, and in helping change global health policy to greatly expand treatment of these diseases in resource-poor countries. 
• He has contributed to the growth of the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI), one of the leading nonprofit organizations devoted to accelerating the improvement of health care.  IHI programs have improved care for hundreds of thousands of patients around the world.

Hiatt, who received his M.D. from Harvard in 1948 and has been on the Harvard University faculty since 1955 and with the Brigham and Women's Hospital since 1985.  He was the first Herrman L. Blumgart Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. 

Hiatt is a member of the Association of American Physicians, Institute of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS), American Society for Clinical Investigation, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and American Public Health Association, as well as several other organizations.  In addition, from 1991 to 1997, he was secretary of AAAS, where he began and directed its Initiatives for Children program, which brought together academics and community members to address a range of educational, health, and social issues affecting the nation's children.

Hiatt is the 22nd recipient of the Lienhard Award, which includes a medal and a $25,000 prize.  Given annually, the award recognizes outstanding national achievement in improving personal health care services in the United States.  Nominees are eligible for consideration without regard to education or profession, and award recipients are selected by a committee of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine.  This year's committee was chaired by Larry Green, professor of family medicine and director, Prescription for Health, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver.

The Lienhard Award is funded by an endowment from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Gustav O. Lienhard was chair of the foundation's board of trustees from the organization's establishment in 1971 to his retirement in 1986 — a period in which the foundation moved to the forefront of American philanthropy in health care.  Lienhard, who died in 1987, built his career with Johnson & Johnson, beginning as an accountant and retiring 39 years later as its president.

Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies.