Group Health Research Institute's founding director Edward Wagner, M.D., established its MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation in 1992, launching a new effort to move advances in quality improvement research into practice. He and his team developed and disseminated the Chronic Care Model (CCM), an evidence-based framework for health care that delivers safe, effective, and collaborative care to patients.
Dr. Wagner also serves as principal investigator for the Cancer Research Network CRN, a National Cancer Institute–funded consortium of 14 health plan–based research organizations. The CRN is part of the HMO Research Network, a larger alliance of health care delivery organizations with sophisticated research capabilities that he helped establish in 1996.
In 2007, Dr. Wagner received the Health Quality Award from the National Committee for Quality Insurance (NCQA) and was elected into the Institute of Medicine. A longstanding champion of patient-centered care, he was also honored in 2007 with the Picker Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care—for advocating that respecting patients' values and preferences be central to chronic illness care. He received the Founders' Award from the American College of Medical Quality in 2010. He is a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of North Carolina.
Dr. Wagner has authored two books and more than 250 publications. He serves on the editorial boards of Health Services Research, the British Medical Journal, and the Journal of Cancer Survivorship. He is also a professor of health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health.
