Chairman's Activities > Biography - David B. Nash

Biography - David B. Nash

David Nash is The Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor and Chairman of the Department of Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.  Jefferson is one of a handful of medical schools in the nation with an endowed professorship in health policy.  Dr. Nash, a board certified internist, founded the original Office of Health Policy in 1990.  From 1996 to 2003, he served as the first Associate Dean for Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College.  In 2004, he was named Co-director of the Masters Program in Public Health at Jefferson and was named as a finalist in the 15th Annual Discover Awards for Innovation in Public Health by Discover magazine.

Internationally recognized for his work in outcomes management, medical staff development and quality-of-care improvement, his publications have appeared in more than 100 articles in major journals.  He has edited seventeen books, including A Systems Approach to Disease Management by Jossey-Bass, Connecting with the New Healthcare Consumer by Aspen,  The Quality Solution by Jones and Bartlett, and most recently, Practicing Medicine in the 21st Century by ACPE.  In 1995, he was awarded the Latiolais (“Lay-shee-o-lay”) Prize by the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy for his leadership in disease management and pharmacoeconomics.  He also received the Philadelphia Business Journal Healthcare Heroes Award in October 1997 and was named an honorary distinguished fellow of the American College of Physician Executives in 1998.   Finally, in 2006, he received the Elliot Stone Award for leadership in public accountability for health data from NAHDO.

Repeatedly named by Modern Healthcare to the top 100 most powerful persons in healthcare list, his national activities include the CIGNA Physician Advisory Committee, membership on the Board of Directors of the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) and Chair of an NQF Technical Advisory Panel – three key national groups focusing on quality measurement and improvement.  He continues as one of the principal faculty members for quality of care issues of the American College of Physician Executives in Tampa, Florida, and the developer of the ACPE Capstone Course on Quality.  Dr. Nash was recently appointed to the Board of the West Virginia Medical Institute (WVMI), the Medicare QIO for Pennsylvania.  For the last decade, he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Catholic Healthcare Partners in Cincinnati, Ohio – one of the nation’s largest integrated delivery systems and he chairs the Board Committee on Quality and Safety.

Dr. Nash is a consultant to organizations in both the public and private sectors including the Technical Advisory Group of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (a group he has chaired for the last decade), and numerous corporations within the pharmaceutical industry.  He is on the board of directors and advisory board of multiple healthcare companies.  From 1984 to 1989, he was Deputy Editor, Annals of Internal Medicine, at the American College of Physicians.  Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of four major national journals including P&T, Disease Management, Biotechnology Healthcare and the American Journal of Medical Quality.  Through his writings, public appearances and his digital presence, his message reaches more than 100,000 persons every month.

Dr. Nash received his BA in economics (Phi Beta Kappa) from Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York; his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry; and his MBA in Health Administration (with honors) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  While at Penn, he was a former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and Medical Director of a nine physician faculty group practice in general internal medicine.

Dr. Nash lives in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Esther J. Nash, MD, fraternal twin twenty-year old daughters, and seventeen-year old son.  He is an avid tennis player.  Please visit:  www.jefferson.edu/dhp/ and his new blog at http://departmentofhealthpolicy.blogspot.com/.

updated 03/10/2008