David Bates is the Center Director on this one of three national Centers of Excellence in Patient Safety and Research supported by AHRQ focusing on improving medication safety across the continuum of care and patient groups. Dr. Bates is the Chief of the Division of General Medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is also the Medical Director of Clinical and Quality Analysis, IS and is on the Executive Committee of the Center of Information Technology Leadership at Partners HealthCare System, Inc. He is a Professor in Medicine at HMS and has a Joint Appointment at HSPH in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He serves as one of the Directors of the Clinical Effectiveness Program. Dr. Bates received his BS degree in Chemistry from Stanford University, his MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and his M.Sc. in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. After his residency training in internal medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, he completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in medicine at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. In 1987, Dr. Bates held a faculty position at the Oregon Health Sciences University. He joined the Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1988.

Dr. Bates' primary informatics interest has been the use of computer systems to improve patient care especially with respect to clinical decision support. He has done extensive work on evaluating the incidence and prevention of adverse drug events. Another area of focus has been on improving efficiency and quality using information systems with regards to diagnostic testing. Other research interests include clinical decision-making using computerized interventions; quality of care and cost-effectiveness in medical practice; and outcomes assessment. He is currently evaluating the impact of guidelines delivered using electronic medical records on the quality of care. The common themes that extend across all of this work relate to helping clinicians make better decisions, and provide more efficient, higher-quality, and safer care, especially using information technology.