Director, Center for Primary Care, Prevention and Clinical Partnerships Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Helen Burstin, M.D., M.P.H. has served as the Director of the Center for Primary Care, Prevention and Clinical Partnerships at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) since January 2000. The Center expands the knowledge base for clinical providers and patients and translates new knowledge and systems improvement into primary care and prevention. The Center supports the US Preventive Services Task Force. Dr. Burstin oversees all health information technology initiatives at AHRQ.
Dr. Burstin is a board certified general internist and health services researcher, and a graduate of the State University of New York at Upstate College of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Burstin completed a residency in primary care internal medicine at Boston City Hospital. After residency, she completed fellowship training in General Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Prior to her appointment at AHRQ, Dr. Burstin was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Quality Measurement at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. While in this position, she served as Chair of the Medical Staff Executive Committee on Quality Assurance/Risk Management and developed the hospital’s computerized Quality Measurement Reporting System. Dr. Burstin is the author of over 60 articles and book chapters in her areas of interest, including access to care and quality, medical errors, patient-provider communication, and disparities. In 1996, she won the Clinician Investigator Award of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) New England Region. Dr. Burstin served as national chair of the 2003 SGIM Annual Meeting. She is a deputy editor of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Dr. Burstin is President of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) Foundation and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of La Clinica del Pueblo, a free Latino clinic in Washington D.C., where she is a volunteer staff physician.
