Helen Burstin, MD, MPH, FACP  is the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Medical Specialty Societies. She has formerly served as the Chief Scientific Officer of The National Quality Forum, the Director of the Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Director of Quality Measurement at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School.  She is the author of more than 100 articles and book chapters on quality, safety and disparities. She currently serves on the boards of AcademyHealth and the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine.  She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Upstate College of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health. She completed a residency in primary care internal medicine at Boston City Hospital and a fellowship in General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  She is a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University School of Public Health and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at George Washington University.