ASH Clinical News December 2014 | Page 83

FEATURE Clinical Innovators Improving Care Through Technology, Policy, and Philanthropy: An Interview with David Blumenthal, MD David Blumenthal, MD, president of the Common­ wealth Fund, a national philanthropy engaged in independent research on health and social policy issues, heard the call to public service at an early age. His professional career has ranged from primary-care clinical practice to government service to – with the Commonwealth Fund – leadership of an important health-care philanthropic organization. Along the way, Dr. Blumenthal was named the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Chief Health Information and Innovation Officer at Partners Healthcare System in Boston. From 2009 to 2011, he served as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, where he succeeded in putting in place one of the largest publicly funded infrastructure investments the nation has ever made. Previously, Dr. Blumenthal was a practicing primarycare physician, director of the Institute for Health Policy, and professor of medicine and health policy at Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners Heal ѡ