Legendary healthcare researcher John E. Wennberg, who shaped efforts to reform the nation’s healthcare system, dies at 89

Legendary healthcare researcher John E. Wennberg, who shaped efforts to reform the nation’s healthcare system, dies at 89
Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, by Susan Green; 3/18/24
John E. (Jack) Wennberg, MD, MPH, founder and director emeritus of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, the Peggy Y. Thomson Professor in the Evaluative Clinical Sciences Emeritus at the Geisel School of Medicine, and founding editor of the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, died March 10, 2024. He was 89 years old. “His work pioneered a field that has grown into an entirely new academic discipline in medicine,” Duane Compton, PhD, Geisel School of Medicine dean, says. ... Wennberg focused on improving decision quality by combining better clinical evidence with informed patient preferences. The introduction of shared decision-making between clinicians and patients to preserve warranted variation due to patient preferences is now embedded in health policies across the globe.