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Betsy McCaughey

Academic, Author and Advocate shares bold goals and vital information to save lives and better our healthcare system.

Betsy McCaughey is a leading healthcare policy expert, the founder and Chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID), and a former Lt. Governor of New York State. As an author and speaker, McCaughey addresses issues related to healthcare policy and American politics.

Health care reform, both globally and for each patient, has become McCaughey's passion. In 2004, she founded RID, a national campaign to support greater infection control in hospitals and other healthcare institutions. Just as important as her crusade to ensure healthcare providers implement the simple steps required for more hygienic, sterile hospital environments, is McCaughey's desire to educate and empower patients and the public on what they can do to reduce their risk of getting a hospital infection.

McCaughey is an accomplished and articulate woman with an impressive resume. She has written hundreds of articles for publications such as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Modern Healthcare, The New Republic, and received numerous awards for her writings. Her research on how to prevent infection deaths has been featured on ABC's Good Morning America, the CBS Morning Show, 20/20, and many other national television and radio programs. And her steps that patients can take to help protect themselves from infection were featured recently in the Wall Street Journal.

The most public offi ce she has held to date is that of Lieutenant-Governor of New York from 1995 to 1999. Her tenure in state government focused largely on healthcare issues; many of her bills became models for legislation in other states and the U.S. Congress, including a patients' appeals act, a law banning drive-through mastectomies, and a law guaranteeing that insurers will provide 48-hours of hospital coverage for normal childbirth. In 1994, she vigorously criticized the healthcare reform package proposed by Bill Clinton. Her New Republic article, "No Exit," received the National Magazine Award for Excellence in the Public Interest.

McCaughey has also had an illustrious career as a college professor and a scholar at two think tanks, the Manhattan Institute and Hudson Institute. A 1970 graduate of Vassar College, McCaughey received the Woodrow Wilson and Herbert H. Lehman Fellowships. In 1972 she earned a Master's from Columbia University. Four years later she completed her PhD from Columbia and was awarded numerous post-doctoral awards and prizes.

McCaughey is available to speak on aging and longevity, as well as a host of medicinerelated and healthcare policy issues such as:

How to Protect Yourself from a Hospital Infection
New Research and Compelling Economic Data in Support of Infection Prevention
Accelerating the Adoption of New Medical Breakthroughs
Living Longer and Enjoying It More!

Publications

McCaughey is currently writing a book on improving healthcare safety, accelerating the adoption of new medical breakthroughs, fostering medical innovation as the key to strategy to cope with an aging population, and reducing costs imposed by product liability and medical malpractice litigation.

Media & Articles

Dr. McCaughey is a frequent guest on network and cable news shows, as well as numerous radio programs. She is also the author of hundreds of scholarly articles on political/government issues, as well as health policy.

To view her network video clips and read her articles, visit www.hospitalinfection.org.

* speaker fees subject to changes without notice