Honors and awards

May 11, 2011

Health services professor Edward Wagner wins William B. Graham Prize

A professor of health services at the UW School of Public Health, Wagner is best known for his work in chronic illness management, cancer care, and health care for aging and geriatric populations. Recognized as a champion of patient-centered care, Wagner has received numerous honors and awards and has written more than 250 publications.

Wagner founded Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) in 1983, and served as director until 1998. GHRI is a non-proprietary, public-domain research institution within the Group Health system. With a commitment to rigorous scientific inquiry, Wagner led GHRIs mission to improve health care through leading-edge research, innovation, and dissemination. In 1992, he established GHRIs MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation, which he still directs. There his team developed the Chronic Care Model, an evidence-based framework that seeks to improve the delivery of safe, effective, and collaborative care to patients. He is also the principal investigator for the Cancer Research Network, a National Cancer Institute-funded consortium of 14 health-plan-based research organizations.

“Dr. Wagner provides innovation and excellence in everything he does,” said Dr. Kyle Grazier, University of Michigan School of Public Health professor, and Graham Prize Selection Committee chair. “Through his Chronic Care Model, Dr. Wagner is still transforming the role of chronic illness care in health and health services delivery. His extraordinary leadership is evident in the research and policy centers he has created throughout the past 30 years to study evidence-based management and clinical practice, to teach future clinicians and investigators, and to implement integrated health care across the life span. Dr. Wagner truly deserves this years prestigious William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research.”

Wagner received a M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, and an M.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Medicine.

“The prior recipients of the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research include the most distinguished scientists in our field. I am honored and humbled to be included with them, and grateful to the many research and clinical colleagues who have contributed so much to our work,” said Wagner. “For American health care to provide excellent quality care at a sustainable cost, it must have a robust primary care sector able to successfully manage complex, chronically ill patients in the community. I have been blessed to work with dedicated, creative clinicians who are showing that it can be done.”

The Graham Prize acknowledges national or international contributions  researchers who apply analytic methods to examine and evaluate the organization, financing, and/or delivery of health services. The Prize recognizes individuals who have had a significant impact on the health of the public in one of three primary focus areas: Health Services Management, Health Policy Development, and Healthcare Delivery. . The Prize includes an award of $25,000 to the individual and $25,000 to a not-for-profit institution that supports the Prize winners work.

Information about the Prize sponsors:

• The Baxter International Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Baxter International Inc., helps organizations expand access to health care in the United States and around the world. The foundation, established in 1981, is particularly concerned with improving health care for disadvantaged and underserved  people in communities where Baxter employees live and work. Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets products to treat hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other medical conditions
• AUPHA is a global network of colleges, universities, faculty, individuals, and organizations dedicated to improving health outcomes by promoting excellence in healthcare management education. AUPHA’s membership includes the premier Baccalaureate and Masters degree programs in Health Administration Education in the United States and Canada. Its faculty and individual members represent more than 500 colleges and universities. For more information, please visit www.aupha.org.