The Dartmouth Institute (TDI) was founded (as the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences or CECS) by Dr. John E. Wennberg, MD MPH. His visionary analyses exposed the highly irrational delivery of health care in the United States, leading to improvements in patient care and systems of care, and dramatically influencing health care delivery and public policy throughout the U.S. and increasingly throughout the world.

When Dr. Wennberg published the first paper on small area variation in 1973, no one had studied practice patterns across regions in the US or thought to ask why rates of procedures in areas with similar populations varied so widely. From a study of rates of tonsillectomies across two neighboring communities in Vermont, he went on to use the large Medicare database to

"John E. Wennberg is one of the heroes of modern medicine..."

– Shannon Brownlee, Author
Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making us Sicker and Poorer

document variation, unnecessary and often harmful procedures, and attendant waste in the health care spending. He was the first to suggest – and to show conclusively – that more care is not always best – and that patient outcomes are often better with more conservative treatment, less is more. His vision 40 years ago started to unravel the mystery of an irrational national health care system.

Perhaps the most fundamental change brought about through Dr. Wennberg's work has been the shift in thinking about how clinical decisions are made and the international movement to informed patient choice. This research and the outcomes measures that he established also provided the basis for the creation of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), formerly AHCPR. AHRQ's mission continues to be built around Dr. Wennberg's fundamental work: evidence based medicine, "quality improvement and patient safety; outcomes and effectiveness of care; clinical practice and technology assessment; health care organization and delivery systems; primary care (including preventive services); health care costs and sources of payment."

In 2007, Dr. Wennberg stepped down as Director of CECS, turning the leadership of what is now TDI over to his colleague and current Director, James N. Weinstein. He continues to be active in TDI, conducting research and publishing numerous papers. He has recently completed a book about his life and work, to be published in 2010.

John E. Wennberg, MD, MPH:

• Holder of the Peggy Y Thomson Chair in the Evaluative Clinical Sciences
• 2008 Recipient of the Lienhard Award from the Institute of Medicine for "Outstanding Achievement in Improving Health Care Services in the United States"
• 2009 Recipient of the "Health Care Heroes" award
• 2008 Recipient, Health Affairs "Most Influential Health Policy Researcher" award
• 2008 Recipient, Ernest Amory Codman award, presented by the Joint Commission
• Recipient, Picker Institute Award for Excellence (with Albert Mulley)
• Recipient, Individual Lifetime Contributions, Foundation for Accountability
• Member, Institute of Medicine
• Member, American College of Physicians
• Member, Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars
• Co-Founder, Foundation for Informed Decision Making