Ronald Wyatt MD MHA

Ronald Wyatt, MD, MHA, is an authority on patient safety and health equity whose career has focused on efforts to reduce harm in American medicine. A board-certified internist, Wyatt practiced medicine for more than two decades before focusing on systemic reform. His academic background includes a medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, an executive master's in health administration from UAB, and a fellowship as a Merck Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He became the first African American chief resident in internal medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

Wyatt's career includes roles at influential institutions in American healthcare. He served as the first Patient Safety Officer at the Joint Commission, where he contributed to the development of National Patient Safety Goals, Sentinel Event Alerts, and the "Quick Safety" publication series, and helped transform the Office of Quality Monitoring into the Office of Quality and Patient Safety. Wyatt was appointed director of the Patient Safety Analysis Center within the U.S. Department of Defense's Military Health System, served on the FDA's Drug Safety Oversight Board, and was a mentor in the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation Advisors program.

His leadership spans domestic and international healthcare systems. Wyatt served as chief of patient safety and quality for Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar, and as chief quality and patient safety officer at Cook County Health, one of the largest public health systems in the United States. He later served as vice president and patient safety officer at MCIC Vermont and as a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He was appointed chief science and medical officer of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, where he leads initiatives focused on diagnostic error with an equity-driven, patient-centered approach.

Wyatt is committed to education and governance in patient safety. He is a credentialed course instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions and co-course director of the Keystone Program at Northwestern University School of Medicine Master's Degree in Patient Safety. He co-chairs the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Equity Advisory Group, serves as faculty for the IHI Pursuing Equity Initiative, and is a member of the ACGME Clinical Learning Environment Review Committee. Wyatt has been recognized multiple times as one of Becker's Top 50 Patient Safety Experts in the United States, and his writings have appeared in JAMA, NEJM Catalyst, Washington Post, and US News & World Report.

Wyatt presents nationally and internationally on topics including safety culture, safety event analysis, human factors in healthcare, diagnostic error, and health equity. He is known for translating complex systemic challenges into actionable insights for audiences across healthcare and policy.