Partner Organizations
Center for Healthcare Governance
The Center is a community of board members, executives and thought leaders dedicated to advancing excellence, innovation, and accountability in healthcare governance.
Health Forum
Health Forum is the publisher of H&HN and Trustee, and is the survey data collection arm of AHA.
National Association of Corporate Directors
NACD is a national nonprofit membership organization dedicated exclusively to serving the corporate governance needs of corporate boards and individual board members.
Research Team
Jeffrey A. Alexander, PhD
Richard Carl Jelinek Professor of Health Management and Policy
University of Michigan School of Public Health
Dr. Alexander’s teaching and research have focused on organizational change, culture, multi-institutional systems, governance, physician participation in institutional management and policy-making, and the adoption of “best practices” in hospitals and health systems. Dr. Alexander is also interested in the structure and process of patient care teams and their impact on patient outcomes. His most recent articles have appeared in Health Services Research, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Medical Care Research and Review, and Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research. Prior to his role at the University of Michigan, Dr. Alexander taught in a number of academic settings including the University of California-Berkeley, Northwestern University, and the University of Alabama-Birmingham. From 1983 to 1985, he served as Assistant Director and Senior Researcher at HRET.
John R. Combes, MD
President and COO
Center for Healthcare Governance
Senior Fellow, HRET
Prior to his appointment as President and COO of the Center for Healthcare Governance, Dr. Combes was senior medical advisor at the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), and the American Hospital Association (AHA). In his positions at HAP and the AHA, Dr. Combes focused on quality and leadership issues in Patient Safety, End of Life Care and Clinical Performance Improvement. Dr. Combes received his medical degree from Cornell University in New York and received his post-graduate training from Boston City Hospital. He is certified in Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine and has Management Certification from the American College of Physician Executives. Dr. Combes has held several senior management positions at a variety of healthcare organizations. More recently he has served on several national advisory groups on medical ethics, palliative care and reduction of medication errors. Dr. Combes is a past Chair of the National Coordinating Council on Medication Error Reporting and Prevention (NCC MERP) and serves as a member of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Patient Safety Research Coordinating Center (AHRQ-PSRCC) Steering Committee. He also serves as Principal Investigator for an AHRQ Patient Safety Grant on simulation training and a Partnership in Quality grant on developing palliative care learning centers.
Nancy M. Kane, DBA
Professor of Management
Department of Health Policy and Management
Harvard School of Public Health
Dr. Kane is Professor of Management in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. She directs the Masters in Healthcare Management Program, an executive leadership program created for mid-career physicians leading healthcare organizations. She has taught in Executive and Masters Degree programs in the areas of health care accounting, payment systems, financial analysis, and competitive strategy. Her research interests include measuring hospital financial performance, quantifying community benefits and the value of tax exemption, the competitive structure and performance of hospital and insurance industries, and nonprofit hospital governance. Professor Kane consults with a wide range of federal and state agencies involved in health system design, oversight, and payment. She is currently an outside director of the Urban Medical Group, a nonprofit physician group practice providing care to frail elderly in institutional and home settings, and a member of the Medical Payment Advisory Commission.
Lawrence D. Prybil, MA, PhD
Clinical Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy
Senior Advisor to the Dean
University of Iowa College of Public Health
Edwin Crosby Fellow, HRET
Dr. Prybil’s career in healthcare leadership and research spans over 40 years. His academic work has focused on emergency department utilization, multispecialty group practice, integrated delivery networks, and governance. His most recent peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Health Progress, Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, and Journal of Business Ethics. Dr. Prybil has held faculty appointments at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Michigan, and currently, the University of Iowa, where he has a key role in building the new College of Public Health. He has also held senior executive positions in the Sisters of Mercy Health Corporation and, for 15 years, the Daughters of Charity National Health System.
Bryan Weiner, PhD
Associate Professor, Health Policy and Administration
University of North Carolina School of Public Health
Dr. Weiner’s research interests include adoption of innovation, management of inter-organizational relationships, cancer care, quality management, information technology, patient safety, and community health improvement. He was awarded Fellowships from the National Institutes for Mental Health, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, and the Kellogg Foundation, as well as the Governance Institute and Modern Healthcare Governance Fellowship. His peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Health Services Research, Health Care Management Review, Academic Emergency Medicine, and Milbank Quarterly. Prior to his role at UNC, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Systems Management at the Tulane University School of Public Health.
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