Leadership
Lieutenant Colonel Donald W. Robinson, MD
Director, DoD Patient Safety Program (PSP)
Lieutenant Colonel Donald W. Robinson assumed his current positions as both the Director of Department of Defense’s Patient Safety Division and Director of the DoD Patient Safety Program within the Office of the Chief Medical Officer under the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) in August 2009.
Prior to his current assignment Robinson served as the Director of the U.S. Army’s Trauma Training Center and Assistant Professor of Surgery, Trauma, and Critical Care at the University of Miami School located within Jackson Memorial Healthcare System’s Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, Florida. Additionally, he served as Associate Director of the William Lehman Injury Research Center.
Robinson initially served as an enlisted soldier in the U.S. Army. He was commissioned a second lieutenant 1987 through the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program at Howard University where he graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate after earning a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Bowie State University in Maryland.
Robinson then earned his medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed his residency in General Surgery at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Stafford. After a fellowship in Trauma at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Camden, he served as Trauma Surgeon and Clinical Instructor for the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency Surgical Services at Cooper Memorial Medical Center, Camden, N.J.
Throughout his career as both an enlisted soldier and Army officer, Robinson has held numerous leadership assignments in conventional and unconventional units. He has completed combat tours in South America, the Balkans, and Middle East while serving with combat and medical units.
Robinson’s personal decorations include the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal (with two oak leaf clusters), Joint Service Achievement Medal and Combat Medical Badge. He has also earned designations as an Army Flight Surgeon, Dive Medical Officer and Paratrooper.
Heidi B. King, MS, FACHE
Deputy Director, DoD Patient Safety Program (PSP)
Director, Patient Safety Solutions Center
Ms. Heidi King serves as the Deputy Director of DoD’s Patient Safety Program (PSP) and as the Director of the PSP’s Patient Safety Solutions Center in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer for Health Affairs of TRICARE Management Activity.
King oversees the integration of teamwork principles into practice through education, training, research, collaboration and outreach initiatives. These initiatives are designed to enhance patient care and safety to meet the health care needs of 9.6 million DoD beneficiaries. She participated in the development of the award-winning TeamSTEPPS® program.
King graduated and received her Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Pittsburgh and earned her bachelor’s degree in education and health from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania after becoming a registered dental hygienist. She is Board Certified in Healthcare Management and is an American College of Healthcare Executives Fellow. She also received a Bronze-Level Certification through Kirkpatrick Four Level Certification Program.
In 2009, she received the National Patient Safety Foundation Chairman's Medal in recognition of emerging leadership in the patient safety field for demonstrating, inspiring and leading change necessary to successfully implement patient safety improvements. In 2007, she received the Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service from the Office of the Secretary of Defense and part of a team that received the Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace by the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Ronald Wyatt, M.D., M.H.S.
Director, Patient Safety Analysis Center
Born in Selma, AL, Dr. Wyatt credits his life experiences as a primary influence on his commitment to improving health care. He earned his medical degree from the University of Alabama – Birmingham and completed his internship and residency at St. Louis University Hospitals, serving as the first African-American Chief Resident in Internal Medicine.
Dr. Wyatt was a 2009–2010 George W. Merck Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). Dr. Wyatt believes that the year he spent as a fellow at the IHI has been the most beneficial experience of his professional career, and will be most valuable to his role as Director, Patient Safety Analysis Center.
In addition to completing all major IHI programs, he led a research and development project reducing disparity in the Deep South, and worked with a Triple Aim site in Chattanooga, TN. His clinical experiences in academic and private practice, Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) practice, and active military duty in Desert Storm have shaped the real-world perspective he brings to his position.
He completed the Clinical Effectiveness Program at Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Public Health in 2009 and also served as improvement advisor to the Tufts New England Medical Center Readmission Team under the Commonwealth State Action on Avoidable Rehospitalizations (STAAR) Initiative. He and other IHI Fellows completed a training program on Unprofessionalism and Disruptive Behavior, which included a WIHI talk show program that drew the largest attendance of any program in its history.
Previous Director’s
Col. Steven Grimes, USA (2005 to 2009).
Capt. Deborah McKay, USN (2002 to 2005).
Capt. Frances Stewart, USN (2000 to 2002) --- chaired the DoD’s Patient Safety Working Group from October 2000 to September 2002. The DoD Patient Safety Working Group served as the precursor to the Patient Safety Program.
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