Stanford Radiology Welcomes Chief Quality and Safety Officer David Hovsepian, MD

Posted 3:41 PM, November 19, 2007, by jaruiz

Dr. Hovsepian joined our interventional radiology faculty in July of 2007 as an acting professor of radiology and the chief quality and safety officer for our Department. He brings a considerable amount of experience and new ideas in leading our efforts to offer the highest quality of service to our patients and referring physicians.

In 1982, he graduated cum laude from Columbia University in New York, where he received his BA in computer science. He attended medical school at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed his residency at Presbyterian Hospital. Following a two-year fellowship in vascular and interventional radiology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he joined the faculty at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology where he remained for 14 years, rising to the rank of professor of radiology and surgery. During his career, he has participated in the training of over 200 residents and 70 fellows, and he served on his hospital's performance review committee.

Dr. Hovsepian's research interests over the years have included the development of stent-graft technology for the treatment of aortic aneurysms; gynecological interventional radiology, with a current focus on uterine fibroid embolization; the treatment of vascular malformations in children and adults; and the emerging practices of evidence-based and patient-centered radiology. He has received numerous awards, including being named among "Best Doctors in St. Louis," "Best Doctors in America," and "America's Top Doctors."

Dr. Hovsepian has also served on the editorial boards of Radiology and the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, and he is the deputy editor of RSNA News. In addition, he is the past co-chairman of the ACR-RNSA Public Information Website Committee, and he continues to serve on a number of committees for the Society of Interventional Radiology and the Radiological Society of North America. In particular, Dr. Hovsepian's dedication to quality and safety in radiology has grown through his membership on the RSNA Continuous Quality Improvement Initiative Committee, which is charged with developing educational programs and internet-based resources to help radiologists nationwide develop quality and safety programs at their institutions. He will be leading two roundtable discussions on quality at the upcoming annual meeting of the RSNA on Wednesday, November 28th.

As part of his efforts to ensure the highest standards of quality and safety programs in our Department, Dr. Hovsepian has formed the Quality Leadership Committee, which is guiding three pilot projects: improving report turnaround time; ensuring the timely reporting of critical results; and evaluating the impact that the discordance between preliminary and final reports may have on patient care. The committee's next steps include failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), which involves a lengthy series of process review sessions that analyze every step of the workflow to create standard operating procedures (SOP) and to provide education and training. Dr. Hovsepian will be reporting regularly on our quality and safety progress at our faculty meetings.