Healthcare Executives Network Interviews Dr. David Nash

David B. Nash, MD, MBA

Dean Jefferson School of Population Health

Philadelphia, PA 

Listen to the interview here:

David Nash was named the Founding Dean of the Jefferson School of Population Health (JSPH) in 2008. This appointment caps a 20-year tenure on the faculty of Thomas Jefferson University. He is also the Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor of Health Policy. JSPH provides innovative educational programming designed to develop healthcare leaders for the future. Its offerings include Masters Programs in Public Health, Healthcare Quality and Safety, Health Policy and Applied Health Economics and Outcomes Research. JSPH also offers a doctoral program in Population Health Science.

Dr. Nash is a board-certified internist who is internationally recognized for his work in outcomes management, medical staff development and quality-of-care improvement. In 1995 he received the top recognition award from the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy. He received the Philadelphia Business Journal Healthcare Heroes Award in October 1997, and was named an honorary distinguished fellow of the American College of Physician Executives in 1998. In 2006 he received the Elliot Stone Award for leadership in public accountability for health data from NAHDO. In 2009 Dr. Nash received the Wharton Healthcare Alumni Achievement Award. In 2012, he received both the Joseph Wharton Social Impact Award and the Philadelphia Business Journal Medical Education Innovator of the Year award.

Repeatedly named to Modern Healthcare’s list of Most Powerful Persons in Healthcare, his national activities cover a wide scope. He serves as an Industry Advisor for the VHA Center for Applied Healthcare Studies and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Population Health Alliance (formerly CCA). Dr. Nash is a principal faculty member for quality of care programming for the American College of Physician Executives in Tampa, Florida, and leads the academic joint venture between ACPE and the JSPH.

Dr. Nash is a consultant to organizations in both the public and private sectors. He has chaired the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (HC4) for more than a decade and he is widely recognized as a pioneer in public reporting of outcomes. In December 2009 he was named to the Board of Directors for Humana Inc., one of the nation’s largest publicly traded healthcare companies. He recently retired from the Board of Endo Health Solutions, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. In October 2013 he joined the board of Vestagen, a privately held advanced medical textile company in Orlando, FL. He is on the Board of Main Line Health – a four hospital system in suburban Philadelphia, PA. From 1998–2008, he served on the Board of Trustees of Catholic Healthcare Partners in Cincinnati, Ohio where he chaired the Board Committee on Quality and Safety.

Through publications, public appearances, his “Nash on the Road” blog, and an online column for MedPage Today, Dr. Nash reaches more than 100,000 persons every month. He has authored more than 100 articles in major journals. He has edited 22 books, including Connecting with the New Healthcare Consumer, The Quality Solution, Governance for Healthcare Providers, Health Care Quality: The Clinician’s Primer, Population Health: Creating a Culture of Wellness, and most recently, Demand Better. From 1984 to 1989 he was Deputy Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine. Currently, he is Editor-in-Chief of four major national journals including American Journal of Medical Quality, Population Health Management, P&T, and American Health and Drug Benefits.

Dr. Nash received his BA in economics (Phi Beta Kappa) from Vassar College; his MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and his MBA in Health Administration (with honors) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, he was a former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and Medical Director of a nine-physician faculty group practice in general internal medicine.