Corporate News and Events

National Quality Forum CEO Joins Trinity Health’s Board of Directors

Trinity Health has announced the appointment of Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Kizer is a nationally renowned expert in health care quality improvement, who from 1994 to 1999 was the highest-ranking physician in the federal government.

“Dr. Kizer brings an incredible wealth of experience and wisdom to Trinity Health,” said William Kreykes, Chair, Trinity Health Board of Directors, “His unique breadth of experience in government, business and health care policy, and his well-earned reputation as a leader in the transformation of health care quality measurement, will help us advance our organization’s efforts to establish the highest levels of quality and safety.”

Kizer is President and CEO of the National Quality Forum (NQF), a private not-for-profit membership organization created to develop and implement a national strategy for health care quality measurement and reporting. The NQF is a public-private partnership with broad representation from all segments of the health care industry.

"Trinity Health has been aggressive in its effort to provide quality health care and stands as a good example of what can be achieved with strong leadership," Kizer said. "I look forward to helping Trinity Health achieve an even higher level of performance that will benefit its patients."

From 1994 to 1999, Kizer served as the Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As the highest-ranking physician in the federal government and CEO of the Veterans Health Administration, Kizer is widely credited as the driving force behind the greatest transformation of VA health care since the system’s formation in 1946.

Kizer also has been a consultant on health care matters to several foreign countries, and currently serves as a medical advisor to a number of companies and foundations.

Kizer’s professional experience prior to joining the VA includes positions in the private sector, philanthropy, academia and state government. He has served on the corporate boards of two major managed care companies, and he was Chair of the California Wellness Foundation, a health care conversion foundation with assets of more than $1 billion. He has held senior academic positions at the University of California – Davis, the University of Southern California, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Among his state government positions, Kizer was the Director of the California Department of Health Services, where he served as the state’s top health official for more than six years, setting a record for both achievement and longevity. Prior to that, he was Director of the California Emergency Medical Services Authority, and Chief of Public Health for California.

Kizer is an honors graduate of Stanford University and UCLA. He is board certified in six medical specialties and subspecialties, and has authored more than 350 original articles, book chapters and published reports in medical literature.

Kizer becomes the 13th member of Trinity Health’s board, which includes Cheryln Chin; Lawrence D. Damron; Yvonne Gellise, RSM; Patrick G. Hays; James Hendricks; Christa Marie Hojlo, CSC; Mary Kelly, RSM; Board Chair William Kreykes; Kathleen Moroney, CSC; Linda Murray, MD; Trinity Health President/CEO Judith C. Pelham; and José L. Santillan, CFA.