Richard Zane

Richard Zane, M.D., currently serves as the George B. Boedecker Professor and chair of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, professor of health administration at the University of Colorado Business School, and chief innovation officer for the University of Colorado Health System.

Dr. Zane completed medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia, followed by residency training in emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Following residency, Dr. Zane joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins as assistant chief of service. In 1998, Dr. Zane joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

While in Boston, he formed collaborative industry partnerships to develop tools for preparedness and response to mass casualty care and disaster. These tools have been used domestically and across the globe for events including the earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, the Japan earthquake and tsunami, the Boston Marathon bombing, and most recently, the flooding in Houston.

In 2012, Dr. Zane was recruited to the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Hospital as the inaugural chair of the department of emergency medicine where he led a massive redesign of emergency services. This successful redesign resulted in dramatic improvements in quality, experience and cost. The University of Colorado Hospital Emergency Department was recently ranked the number two academic emergency department in the country by Vizient, and this approach to care redesign has been replicated across the UCHealth system.

Most recently, as chief innovation officer for UCHealth, Dr. Zane has focused on the development of novel industry and venture relationships to bring innovative solutions to healthcare. By partnering with companies, from small startups to multinationals, and using the power of data science, remote monitoring and prescriptive intelligence, he is attempting to fundamentally alter and improve the way in which healthcare is delivered.

Dr. Zane has been widely published in peer reviewed publications, and his work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal. Most recently, he was named a New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst Thought Leader in Medicine and a Top 30 Chief Innovation Officer by Health Data Management.