Christine Cassel, MD, MACP

Dr. Cassel is the president and chief executive officer of the American Board of Internal Medicine and ABIM Foundation in Philadelphia.  She is the former Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon.  She is a leading expert in geriatric medicine, medical ethics and quality of care.  Among her many professional leadership positions, Dr. Cassel is immediate past-Chair of the ABIM Foundation Board of Trustees, served as Chair of the Board of the Greenwall Foundation, which supports work in bioethics; immediate past-President of the American Federation for Aging Research; and was a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director at the National Institutes of Health.  She is a member of the Institute of Medicine Governing Council and has served on previous IOM committees responsible for influential reports on quality of care and medical errors, chaired a recent report on end-of-life care, and co-chaired a report on public health.  In 1997-98, Dr. Cassel served on the President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry.

She was formerly Chair of the Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development and Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.  During ten years at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Cassel was Chief of the Section of General Internal Medicine, Professor of Geriatrics and Medicine, Founding Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, and Founding Director of the Center for Health Policy Research.

She has edited and authored a number of books, including Geriatric Medicine (Fourth Edition), A Practical Guide to Aging (1997), Ethical Dimensions in the Health Professions (1993), Ethical Patient Care (2000), Approaching Death (1997), Encyclopedia of Bioethics (1995), and Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear War: A Sourcebook for Health Professionals (1984), and Medicare Matters: What Geriatric Medicine Can Teach American Health Care (2005).