Dr. Cassel, a leading expert in geriatric medicine, medical ethics and quality of care, is President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation. She is board certified in internal medicine and geriatric medicine.
Dr. Cassel is past President of the American Federation for Aging Research and the American College of Physicians. She also formerly served as Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs at Oregon Health & Science University, Chair of the Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Chief of General Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Cassel is one of 20 scientists chosen by United States President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and is co-Chair and physician leader of a PCAST report to the President on future directions of health information technology. A member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) since 1992, she served on the IOM’s Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Committee and the IOM committees that wrote the influential reports, “To Err is Human” and “Crossing the Quality Chasm.” She chaired major IOM reports on public health (2002) and on palliative care (1997). In 2009 and 2010, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Cassel among the 50 most powerful people in health care. An active scholar and lecturer, she is the author or co-author of 14 books and more than 200 journal articles on geriatric medicine, aging, bioethics and health policy.
A graduate of the University of Chicago, Dr. Cassel received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards of distinction, including honorary Fellowship in the Royal College of Medicine of England and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, as well as Mastership in the American College of Physicians.
