Brent C. James

Dr. Brent C. James is chief quality officer and executive director at the Institute for Health Care Delivery Research at Intermountain Healthcare. He is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine and has participated in many of that organization’s seminal works on quality and patient safety.

Dr. James graduated magna cum laude with bachelor of science degrees in computer science and medical biology from the University of Utah. He holds a master’s degree in statistics and earned his MD from the University of Utah, with residency training in general surgery and oncology. Dr. James is a fellow of the American College of Physician Executives and holds faculty appointments at the University of Utah School of Medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, and the University of Sydney, Australia, School of Public Health.

Dr. James has been honored with a series of awards for quality in healthcare delivery. He was the first healthcare professional to be awarded the Deming Cup from Columbia University Business School in 2011. And just two weeks ago Dr. James was awarded the Packard Lectureship by Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the nation’s only federal health sciences university. The Packard Lecture is the university’s most prestigious lectureship.

He is a member of a number of national taskforces and committees that examine healthcare quality and cost control, including AHRQ and his most recent appointment by the federal comptroller to an advisory group on making American healthcare more accessible and affordable. Dr. James and his wife, Eve, have a son, who is an alumnus of BYU, and two daughters.