Issue 23, December 2007 Control of Infection and Contamination

About the author - Dr. McCaughey, Ph.D.

Elizabeth McCaughey, PH.D.

Health Policy Expert - Former Lt. Governor, N.Y.

Dr. McCaughey is a health policy expert who has won many prizes for her writings, lectures widely, and appears frequently on television and radio. Eighteen months ago she launched a nationwide campaign to stop hospital infection deaths. She is founder and Chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (www.hospitalinfection.org).

Dr. McCaughey’s research on how to prevent infection deaths has been featured on Good Morning America, the CBS Morning Show, ABC’s 20/20, and many other national programs. She has also appeared on Fox News Network’s Hannity & Colmes, The O’Reilly Factor, CNN’s Talk Back Live, and numerous radio programs.

Dr. McCaughey is the author of over one hundred scholarly and popular articles on health policy, which have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Policy Review, Forbes Magazine, New York Law Journal, Los Angeles Times, U.S. News & World Report, and many other national publications. Her publication prizes are listed below.

She has taught at Vassar College and Columbia University, and produced prize-winning studies while at two think tanks, the Manhattan Institute and later the Hudson Institute. Dr. McCaughey’s 1994 article on the dangers of the Clinton health plan received the National Magazine Award for the best article in the nation on public policy, the H. L. Mencken Award and other prizes. As Lt. Governor of New York State, she proposed health legislation that became models for legislation in other states and in Congress. She has also been honored by the American Society of Anesthesiologists for her writings in that field.

Dr. McCaughey also lectures on aging, the scientific secrets to staying young, Medicare’s finances, the importance of pharmaceutical innovation, and the need for medical malpractice reform.

Prior to entering the health policy field, Dr. McCaughey taught and wrote about U.S. constitutional history. She is the author of two books, From Loyalist to Founding Father (Columbia University Press), winner of the Bancroft Dissertation Award, and Government by Choice (Basic Books). She also chaired a national commission on reforming the electoral college in 1992, wrote its report, Electing the President, and testified before Congress on the subject. In 1989, she served as Guest Curator for the Bicentennial Exhibit and related events at the New York Historical Society.

EDUCATION

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, 1976
· Dissertation defended with distinction
· Richard B. Morris Prize
· Bancroft Dissertation Award
· John Jay Fellowship

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, M.A. 1972
VASSAR COLLEGE, B.A. 1970
· General and Departmental Honors
· Woodrow Wilson Fellowship
· Herbert H. Lehman Fellowship
· Honorary Vassar Fellowship

POST-DOCTORAL AWARDS AND PRIZES
· Post-doctoral Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities
· John M. Olin Fellowship
· H. L. Mencken Award
· National Magazine Award for “No Exit,” a critique of the Clinton Health Plan
· Annual Prize from the American Society of Anesthesiologists

HEALTH POLICY

Dr. McCaughey’s research focuses on state and national health policy, patient safety, infection, medical innovation, aging and Medicare. Her critique of the Clinton health plan in the New Republic received the 1994 National Magazine Award for the best article in the nation on public policy. Her 2001 article on the dangers of “Dumbing Down Medical Care” won the National Media Award from the American Society of Anesthesiologists. She also publishes in The Wall Street Journal, Policy Review, New Republic, Los Angeles Times, American Enterprise Institute Magazine, Forbes, and other publications. (A list of publications is attached.) She serves on the Board of Directors of a biotechnology company, Genta Corp., which develops cancer treatments.

As Lieutenant Governor of New York State, she focused on health care issues. Her bills became models for legislation in many states and Congress. Affiliated with the Manhattan Institute (1991-3) and the Hudson Institute (1998-present). Her healthcare writings have inspired national debate, and she has been profiled in The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, George, The Washington Post, and other publications.

GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE

1994-1998 Lt. Governor of New York State

FINANCIAL BACKGROUND

While completing her Ph.D., Dr. McCaughey trained in the corporate banking department at Chase Manhattan Bank, and served as a lending officer in the Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Division. She also studied accounting at the Columbia University School of Business. From 2000 to 2003, she was a regular columnist for Investors Business Daily.

RECENT PUBLIC ADDRESSES

Hospital Infection Forum (co-sponsored by PALL Corporation), Long Island, NY, November 2006
Hospital Infection Forum (co-sponsored by Agion Technologies), Boston, November 2006.
Grand Rounds, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, September 27, 2006.
“News from the Infection Prevention Front,” Live Webcast, Infection Control Today, September 5, 2006.
Illinois Hospital Association Quality Leadership Conference in Chicago, May 23-24, 2006.
APIC 2006 Futures Summit in Savannah, April 2006
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America’s 16th Annual Scientific Meeting, March 2006
Testimony on Hospital Infection Reporting, Connecticut State Legislature, March 6, 2006
“The Human and Financial Costs of Hospital Infections,” Live Webcast, Infection Control Today, February 28, 2006
“Unnecessary Deaths,” 2nd Annual Minimizing Healthcare-Associated Infections Conference in Las Vegas, February 27, 2006
“The Most Effective Strategies for Preventing Nosocomial Infections,” 3rd Annual Patient Safety Conference at the UPENN School of Nursing, December 2, 2005
“The Compelling Case for Reducing Infection,” Manhattan Institute, March 31, 2005
“Preventing Hospital Infection: Saving Lives, Reducing Costs,” Harvard Club, March 11, 2005
“The War Against Infection,” Keynote, National Conference of Insurance Legislators, February 4, 2005
“Making Hygiene a Central Part of Medicine,” Forum on Hospital Infection, Harvard Club, December 7, 2004
“Improving the World’s Best Health Care,” Rotary Club at the Princeton Club, November 16, 2004
“The Future of Medicine,” Weill Cornell Medical College Reunion, October 2, 2004
Keynote luncheon speaker at “Medicine Briefing: Research at Risk” for U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate Staff and Members, Senate Caucus Room, April 13, 2000
Dinner keynote speaker, “Why There Is No Medicare Crisis,” Alliance for Aging Research, May 22, 2000
“Almost as Good as Cocoon,” Fifty New Yorkers luncheon speaker at Alliance Capital, January 25, 2001
Medical Innovation and What It Will Mean To Us,” Williams Club of New York, February 8, 2001
“Scientists are Solving the Problem of Aging,” Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University, April 10, 2001
“Scientists are Saving Medicare and Protecting Us from Disease,” Luncheon speaker at the Advanced Medical Technologies Association Meeting, Chicago, February 23, 2002
Keynote Speaker, “Operating Ambulatory Surgery Centers and Surgical Hospitals,” Healthstream Continuing Medical Education event, Chicago, September 27, 2002
“Preparing Medicare for an Aging Society,” House of Representatives Briefing Sponsored by the Alliance for Aging Research, Cannon Caucus Room, March 17, 2003
“Reforming the Malpractice System: Ethical and Empirical Considerations,” Long Island Jewish Hospital, sponsored by the Medical Society of the State of New York, June 13, 2003
“Solving the Problem of the Uninsured,” New York University Law School Symposium, February 3, 2004
“Are We Spending Too Much on HealthCare,” Smith Family Foundation Debate, March 23, 2004
“Solving the Biggest Problems in HealthCare,” Schiff Insurance Forum, April 15, 2004
“Controlling Costs without Rationing, Three Remedies” Conning Luncheon Forum, September 8, 2004

PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

2004-present: Founder and Chairman of Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths
2002-present: Adjunct senior fellow, Hudson Institute, national columnist
1999-2001: Senior fellow, Hudson Institute
1994-1998: Lt. Governor of New York State
1993-1994: John M. Olin Fellow, Manhattan Institute
1989-1992: Senior Scholar, Center for the Study of the Presidency
1986-1988: Guest Curator, The New York Historical Society
1983-1984: Post-Doctoral Fellow, National Endowment for the Humanities
1981-1983: Assistant Professor, Columbia University
1979-1980: Lecturer, Columbia University
1977-1978: Visiting Assistant Professor, Vassar College

BOOKS

Government by Choice: Inventing the United States Constitution (Basic Books, 1987) with Preface by Chief Justice Warren Burger, Ret., and Foreword by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
From Loyalist to Founding Father: The Political Odyssey of William Samuel Johnson (Columbia University Press, 1980).
She is currently writing a book on improving health care safety, accelerating the adoption of new medical breakthroughs, fostering medical innovation as the key strategy to cope with an aging population, and reducing the costs imposed by product liability and medical malpractice litigation.

PERSONAL

Mother of three daughters, Amanda (Yale class of 2001), Caroline (Brown class of 2003) and Diana (Manhattanville class of 2006)

Last updated: 30 December 2007
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