25th Anniversary Founder’s Day Celebration

Speaker Series Bios

• Dr. David Lawrence

  KGI appointed former Kaiser CEO Dr. David M. Lawrence as Dean of the KGI School of Community Medicine on March 17, 2020. He stepped down from that role in March of 2022 after a successful two years that included launched the brand-new Master of Science in Community Medicine program.

  While serving as the CEO and Chairman of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals from 1991 to 2002, Lawrence focused the nation’s attention on the issue of patient safety and the need for reform in healthcare delivery systems. Lawrence served on the KGI Board of Trustees in 2019. He retired from Kaiser Permanente in 2002 after his 10-year tenure as CEO and Chairman.

  Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente in 1981, Lawrence worked in Public Health and Human Services in Multnomah County, OR; on the faculty of the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine and the School of Medicine; as an advisor to the Ministry of Health of Chile; and as a Peace Corps Physician in the Dominican Republic and Washington, DC.

  Lawrence is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the AOA Physician Honor Society. He is the author of From Chaos to Care: The Promise of Team-Based Medicine (Perseus, 2002). His book, Best Care; Best Future: A Guide For Healthcare Leaders, published in 2014 by Second River Publishing, received the “2015 Book of the Year” award from the American College of Healthcare Executives.

  He was a member of the boards of CellWorks, MedECube, and Motiv8, an advisor to the chief executive officers of SomaLogic and Medial/EarlySign, and associated with Artiman Ventures. He has served on the boards of Hewlett Packard, its spin-off company Agilent Technologies, McKesson Corp, PGE Corp, and Raffles Medical Group (Singapore); and as a Trustee for the Rockefeller Foundation and a member of the RAND Health Advisory Board.

  Lawrence received his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College, his MD from the University of Kentucky, and his Master of Public Health from the University of Washington. He completed his Residency in General Preventive Medicine at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington and is Board Certified in General Preventive Medicine.

  He has received honorary degrees from Amherst College, the University of Kentucky, and Colgate University. He is a member of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health Hall of Fame and has been named “Distinguished Alumnus” by the University of Kentucky, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine.

  

• Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath

  Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath is the President and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, called BIO. A medical doctor and molecular immunologist by training, McMurry-Heath leads BIO as it advocates for its 1,000 members that discover and deploy innovative scientific breakthroughs to improve human health, environmental stewardship, and food security.

  McMurry-Heath firmly believes that science is limitless if we limit science less. At BIO, she has sought to unleash the power of science to solve society’s biggest challenges by uniting and empowering biotech innovators and removing barriers to their work. A common thread across “Dr. Michelle’s” career in academia, government, and industry has been her focus on broadening access to scientific progress so more patients from diverse backgrounds can benefit from cutting-edge innovation. She calls the distribution of scientific progress “the social justice issue of our age.” Upon coming to BIO, she launched the BIOEquality Agenda to harness the potential of biotechnology for underserved communities and champions issues such as greater clinical trial diversity.

  McMurry-Heath previously worked at Johnson & Johnson in regulatory and clinical leadership positions. Before her time at J&J, McMurry-Heath was a key science policy leader in government, including serving as the associate center director for science at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.