Public Health Heroes Awards Ceremony

For his leadership in pointing the way for cost reduction and efficacy improvements in the U.S. health care system

John E. Wennberg, M.D., M.P.H., is the Peggy Y. Thomson Professor (Chair) in the Evaluative Clinical Sciences and founder and director emeritus of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. He is also a professor of community and family medicine (epidemiology) and professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. Dr. Wennberg has received numerous awards and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science and the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.

With colleague Alan Gittelsohn, Dr. Wennberg developed a strategy for studying the population-based rates of health resource allocation and utilization. This method, called small area analysis and first published in 1973, revealed large variations in health care usage among different areas. Work to uncover the reasons behind these variations led Dr. Wennberg and his colleagues to develop techniques to document the results of common medical practices, a strategy that came to be called outcomes research.

Dr. Wennberg is the founding editor of The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, which examines the patterns of medical resource intensity and utilization in the United States. The Atlas project has also reported on patterns of end of life care, inequities in the Medicare reimbursement system, and the underuse of preventive care.


2009 National Hero - Dr. John E. Wennberg		Related Links The Dartmouth Atlas Dr. Wennberg's Wikipedia listing Dr. Wennberg's faculty page, Dartmouth Medical School
For his leadership in pointing the way for cost reduction and efficacy improvements in the U.S. health care system John E. Wennberg, M.D., M.P.H., is the Peggy Y. Thomson Professor (Chair) in the Evaluative Clinical Sciences and founder and director emeritus of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. He is also a professor of community and family medicine (epidemiology) and professor of medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. Dr. Wennberg has received numerous awards and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science and the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. With colleague Alan Gittelsohn, Dr. Wennberg developed a strategy for studying the population-based rates of health resource allocation and utilization. This method, called small area analysis and first published in 1973, revealed large variations in health care usage among different areas. Work to uncover the reasons behind these variations led Dr. Wennberg and his colleagues to develop techniques to document the results of common medical practices, a strategy that came to be called outcomes research. Dr. Wennberg is the founding editor of The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, which examines the patterns of medical resource intensity and utilization in the United States. The Atlas project has also reported on patterns of end of life care, inequities in the Medicare reimbursement system, and the underuse of preventive care.