David Mayer, MD, is Assistant Dean of Curriculum, Director of Essentials of Clinical Medicine (ECM), and Director of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. His present focus involves the education of medical students and residents in areas of patient safety, systems improvement and quality outcomes. Following models used in other safety oriented industries such as aviation and manufacturing, changing a culture to one of safety involves a longitudinal effort at all levels of training and practice. He welcomes the opportunity to work with the CPSF and the foundation's steering committee to identify, design and implement patient safety educational initiatives.

Recent highlights of Dr. Mayer's current work include:
The design and implementation of a four-year, longitudinal patient safety medical school curriculum at UIC over the last three years. Elements of patient safety knowledge, behaviors, experiential learning and skills have been incorporated into all four years of the curriculum. Examples of curricular innovation include having Rosemary Gibson, the author of the NY Times best selling book on medical errors entitled "Walls of Silence" serve as keynote speaker to the new student orientation to offering a two week senior elective on medical errors, patient safety, teamwork, quality outcomes, and simulator skills.
Serving as chair for the upcoming expert panel roundtable on "Designing a Patient Safety and Quality Outcomes Medical School Curriculum" in Telluride, Colorado. Experts in patient safety, quality improvement, simulator science and curriculum innovation will meet to identify areas for safety education research and implementation.