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Levitt Distinguished Speaker Series

Innovations in Health and Healthcare

About Dr. Louis P. Levitt

Dr. Louis P. Levitt was born in Denver in 1896 and graduated from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1927. He practiced medicine in Denver until 1967.  When he died in 1978 he bequeathed $75,000 to the Department of Family Medicine to establish an endowed lectureship>> The Levitt Distinguished Speaker Series.

Over the years, the Department has invited over​​​ 45 distinguished visiting professors, leaders and authorities to speak and consult with the University of Colorado community on various topics of high importance and relevance to primary care and healthcare as a whole.

2018 Levitt Lectures
April 3

Harold Pincus, MD

Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry
Co-Director, Irving Institute for Clinical Translational Research
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

“Behavioral Health and the ‘Quality Measurement Industrial Complex’…Bambi Meets Godzilla?”

April 13

Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD

Dalio Professor in Mood Disorders
Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

“One Book, One Campus: An Unquiet Mind: Personal and Professional Reflections on Mental Illness”


June 27

Drs. Hilliard Jason & Jane Westberg

Medical Education Experts, Co-founder and Director and Senior Advisor, Educational Affairs, iMedtrust

“A 'Long' Life in Medical Education: An Interview with Drs. Hilliard Jason & Jane Westberg”



2017 Levitt Lecture
March 22

Karen McNeil-Miller, EdD

President & CEO, The Colorado Health Foundation

“What Is TCHF Up To?”

June 28

Ned Calonge, MD, MPH

President & CEO, The Colorado Trust


“Addressing Health Equity through Philanthropy: Data, Advocacy, and Community Partnerships at the Colorado Trust”

August 31

Jűrgen Unűtzer, MD, MPH

Professor and Chair, University of Washington School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Director, Center for Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions

“When Health Systems Want Integrated Care: The Role of the Behavioral Sciences”

October 28

Norm Oliver, MD

Deputy Commissioner for Population Health
Virginia Department of Health

“Unconscious Racial Bias: It’s Impact on Clinical Decision-making”


2016 Levitt Lecture​

June 8

Professor Paul Burstow

Former Minister of Mental Health, England
Director, Mental Health Policy Commission, University of Birmingham

“Closing the Mental Health Treatment Gap: Why we need a new paradigm”


June 22

Marci Nielsen, PhD, MPH

President and CEO, Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

“Primary Care in a  Value-based Purchasing World: What this means to Colorado and the nation”

December 1

Dayna Bowen Matthew, JD​

Distinguished Professor of Law
University of Virginia School of Law

“Preventive Lawyering: HOW Medical-Legal Partnerships Improve Health and Social Outcomes”

​​
2015 Levitt Lecture

April 15

William Beardslee, MD

Director, Baer Prevention Initiatives, Boston Children’s Hospital 
Gardner-Monks Professor of Child Psychiatry

“Prevention of Mental Illness: An Idea Whose Time Has Come”


June 17

Kevin Grumbach, MD

Chair, Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco 
Co-Director, CTS Community Engagement and Health Policy Program 
Co-Director, Center for Excellence in Primary Care

“Emerging Ideas for Advanced Population Health Initiatives”

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2014 Fall Levitt Lecture

Dr. Michael K. Magill

Hicken Professor and Chairman,
Department of Family & Preventive Medicine,
University of Utah SOM
Executive Medical Director,
University of Utah Health Plans
Director, Utah Area Health Education Centers Program

View Recorded Lecture​
Who Needs A Waiting Room Anyway?
Redesigning healthcare and the primary care practice
​
2014 Summer Levitt Lecture
​

Dr. George Rust

Professor, Family Medicine
Founding Director, National Center for Primary Care

View Recorded Lecture​

Levitt lecture Aug 2014 -2.pdfLevitt Lecture June 2014

The Symphony of Primary Care

 ​
 
​

Parinda Khatri, PhD

Director, Integrated Care at Cherokee Health Systems

View Recorded Lecture​

Levitt lecture Aug 2014 -2.pdfLevitt Lecture August 2014.pdf​
Advanced Integration: The Cherokee Health Systems Story

Blended behavioral health and primary care…what it takes. Real-world model, real-world experience, real-world training

 ​
 

2014 Winter Levitt Lecture

>> View Recorded Lecture​

Starting from Scratch: Building a Health Insurance Company from the Ground Up

Giving members a voice and putting people over profits—Health insurance the way it should be

DR. JACK WESTFALL

Chief Medical Officer, Colorado Health Insurance Cooperative

Morning & Afternoon Small Group Conversations

Cold Spotting: Building Local Communities of Solution 

Cowboy Poetry and Integrated Communities: How Many Pick-ups in Your Parking Lot?

2013 Fall Levitt Lecture

>> View Recorded Lecture​

Transforming Health Care: An Approach to System-wide Implementation

The Experience of the Basque Health Care System

DR. RAFAEL BENGOA

Former Minister of Health, Basque Country, Spain

Morning & Afternoon Sessions with Dr. Rafael Bengoa

Chronic Illness & Chronic Care as Drivers for Healthcare Transformation

Opportunities to Maximize Impact: Reform Initiatives in Colorado & Beyond



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2013 Spring Levitt Lecture

>> View Recorded Lecture​

Dir​ect Primary Care and the Quest to Reform American Healthcare
Time: 12 to 1:30pm
Location: AMC, RC-1, Hensel Phelps Auditorium East

ERIKA BLISS, MD

CEO, Qliance Medical Management, Inc.,  Seattle 
Founding member, Direct Primary Care Coalition

Dr. Bliss is committed to putting patients first & creating business models that make that possible.​


2012 Speakers 

Paul Starr, PhDPaul Starr.png
Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs

Stuart Professor of Communications and Public Affairs
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

November 2, 2012: 12 - 1:30PM, Education Building, #1300

“Remedy and Reaction: The Next Phase
in the Peculiar American Struggle over Health Care Reform” 
View lecture
 
1984 Pulitzer Prize Winner, for over 40 years Dr. Starr has written extensively on American society, politics, and public policy. Known for his blend of idealism and pragmatism, Paul Starr is one of the country’s most eloquent speakers on these subjects.

Most recent book: The Peculiar American Struggle over Health Care Reform. In this book Paul examines the history of America’s struggle over health care reform, from the rise and fall of the Clinton health plan to Mitt Romney’s reforms in Massachusetts that became a model for democrats and the passage of President Obama’s health care package.

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2009-2011 Levitt Distinguished Speakers
Lecturer Lecture Topic Archived Content
Paul Starr, PhD

Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs Stuart Professor of Communications and Public Affairs Woodrow Wilson, Princeton University 
 
November 2, 2012
 ​
Remedy and Reaction: The Next Phase in the Peculiar American Struggle over Health Care Reform 

​

View Starr lecture

John Geyman, MD

Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine 
University of Washington School of Medicine
 
August 22, 2012
 ​
Primary Care and Health Care Reform: Alternative Futures
 ​

​Steven Woolf, MD, MPH 


Director for the Center for Human Needs
Professor of Family Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth

June 8, 2012

​

Why Social Determinants Matter So Much

​

View Woolf lecture

​Anne Warhover
 
President and CEO, The Colorado Health Foundation
 
 April 11, 2012
 

​

​The Role of Foundations in Powering Health and Healthcare Innovations

 

​View Warhover lecture

e-Patient Dave
 
Society of Participatory Medicine Co-Chair, Patient Advocate and Activist 
 
October 31, 2011
 ​The Copernican Shift: The World Looks Different with the Patient at the Center

View e-Patient Dave lecture

 

 

Frederick Chen, MD, MPH
 
Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of
Washington
 
Senior Investigator, WWAMI Rural Health Research Center and Center for Health Workforce Studies
 
September 30, 2011
 ​Teaching Health Centers, Community-Based Training, and Other Options for Family Medicine Residency Education

​View Lecture

>>CLICK HERE

​G. Gayle Stephens, MD, PhD

Leader in the emergence and evolution of Family Medicine as a specialty 
 
September 28, 2011
 ​Reflections on the Generalist Role in Health Care

​View Lecture >>CLICK HERE

Harvey V. Fineberg, MD, PhD

President, Institute of Medicine

Professor of Health Policy and Management, Emeritus and Former Provost and Dean, Harvard School of Public Health

May 25, 2011

Practice Transformation & Statewide Planning
 

Warren Newton, MD, MPH

William B. Aycock Professor and Chair of Family Medicine & Executive Associate Dean for Education, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine

January 26, 2011

Practice Transformation & Statewide Planning

Lee Lipsenthal, MD

Founder, Finding Balance in a Medical Life

December 8, 2010

Living and Dying in Balance

 

Ned Calonge, MD, MPH

Chair, US Preventitive Services Task Force, President and CEO, The Colorado  Trust, Former Chief Medical Officer, Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment

October 27, 2010

Policy, Politics, and Science: Convergence and Collision at the Intersection

Robert Gibbons, PhD

Director, Center for Health Stratistics & Professor of Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago

October 7, 2010

Item Response Theory: The CAT-DI & The Efficient Diagnosis of Depression

Paul Grundy, MD, MPH

IBM Director of Healthcare Transformation

President, Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative

June 23, 2010
Breakthrough Clinical Performance: The Place for the Patient Centered Medical Home

 

View Lecture >> CLICK HERE    

 

 

Hilliard Jason, MD, EdD

Associate Professor, University of Colorado Department of Family Medicine

April 14, 2010
Recent Findings About How Our Brains Work: Implications for Needed Changes in Medical Education

 

View Lecture >> CLICK HERE 

 

James Mold, MD, MPH

Professor and Research Director

Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine

February 24, 2010
Extension Services and Accountable Care Organizations: Can Lessons Learned in Agriculture Be Used to Improve Healthcare

 

 

 

View Lecture >> CLICK HERE 

 

 

Arthur Kaufmann, MD

Vice President of Community Health & Chair, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico

July 22, 2009
The Role of Academic Health Centers in the Health of our Communities

 

 

View Lecture >>

 

Kurt Stange, MD, PhD

Professor of Family Medicine, Epidemiology, Sociology, and Oncology, Case Western Reserve University

Editor, Annals of Family Medicine

May 27, 2009
A Science of Connectedness

 

 

 

View Lecture >> CLICK HERE 

 

 

Robert Phillips, MD, MSPH

Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH

Director and Assistant Director of The Robert Graham Center

April 29, 2009
Is Colorado Ready for a Primary Care-Based System?

 

 

View Lecture >> CLICK HERE 

 

Allen Dobson Jr., MD

Vice President Carolinas Healthcare System

February 4, 2009
Health Care Reform 2009: The Case for Medical Homes and Community Systems

 

 

View Lecture >> CLICK HERE 

 

 

 

Listing of Levitt Dinguished Speakers prior to 2009

 

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