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Uma Kotagal, MD, Named to Institute of Medicine

Monday, October 19, 2009

Uma Kotagal, MD, Senior Vice President for Quality and Transformation, and Director of the Center for Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, has been elected to membership in the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences.

New members are elected by current active members through a highly selective process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health. Dr. Kotagal takes her place along with 64 other newly elected members and five foreign associates, bringing the IOM’s total active membership to 1,610.

Dr. Kotagal is a nationally recognized expert in the emerging science of healthcare quality improvement. Under her leadership Cincinnati Children’s applied for and received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pursuing Perfection grant in 2002. This initiative was the result of the IOM Quality Report, which focused on raising the bar for health care delivery.

As Senior Vice President for Quality and Transformation, Dr. Kotagal has been the driving force
behind quality improvement work at Cincinnati Children’s and has helped lead the pursuit of transformational change, for which Cincinnati Children’s has earned an international reputation. Under Dr. Kotagal’s direction, the Center for Health Policy and Clinical Effectiveness has developed more than 20 evidence-based clinical practice guidelines – more than any other institution.

Dr. Kotagal was born in Bombay, India, where she received her undergraduate degree and her MBBS (the equivalent of an M.D.) from the University of Bombay. She did a rotating internship at the University of Bombay from 1970-1971 and another rotating internship at Detroit General Hospital from 1971-1972. Dr. Kotagal did her pediatric residency at Children's Hospital of Michigan from 1972-1974, went on to do a fellowship in neonatology at Children's Hospital of Michigan from 1974-1975, and a fellowship in neonatal physiology at the University of Cincinnati from 1975-1977.

Dr. Kotagal directed two large Level III nurseries for more than 10 years. She has published extensively on neonatal outcomes research, implementation of guidelines and health care resource utilization.

In 1996, she broadened her interests, and obtained additional training, receiving a master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology and Clinical Effectiveness at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the IOM has become recognized as a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on health issues. With their election, members make a commitment to volunteer their service on IOM committees, boards, and other activities. Studies and initiatives during the past year include: a review of the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury among military personnel; an assessment of the health effects of lack of insurance; recommendations for comparative effectiveness research priorities; new guidelines for how much weight women should gain during pregnancy; a blueprint for American leadership in advancing global health; a strategy for preventing medical conflicts of interest; and a series of meetings on improving health care value through evidence-based medicine.