Rollin (terry) Fairbanks

Biography

Rollin J. “Terry” Fairbanks, MD MS is the founding director of the National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare, co-director of the MedStar Telehealth Innovation Center, and assistant vice president for Ambulatory Quality & Safety, MedStar Health. A board certified emergency physician, he practices in the MedStar Washington Hospital Center emergency department. Dr. Fairbanks is associate professor of Emergency Medicine at Georgetown University, and adjunct associate professor of Industrial Systems Engineering at the University at Buffalo. He completed the HRET/NPSF Patient Safety Leadership Fellowship and Wharton’s MedStar Physician Leadership Program. In addition to medical school and a residency in emergency medicine, his academic background also includes a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics, and masters degree industrial systems/safety engineering/human factors engineering. A former paramedic, EMS medical director, and general aviation pilot, he is known for inspiring people to think differently about healthcare’s approach to safety and risk. Dr. Fairbanks has contributed more than 120 publications to the human factors engineering and medical literature, and co-edited a book on cognitive systems engineering in healthcare. Dr. Fairbanks serves as a member of the National Patient Safety Foundation Board of Advisors, the POLITICO Health IT Advisory Forum, AHRQ Patient Safety Network Technical Expert Advisory Panel, and he is a Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) Senior Fellow. He has served in advisory roles for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Pew Charitable Trusts, the American Medical Association, and the Australian and British governments. In 2017, he was listed by Becker’s Hospital Review in Top 50 Experts Leading the Field of Patient Safety.

Research Interest

Healthcare