Alison Stuebe, MD, MSc, is a professor and Division Director for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and the co-director of the Collaborative for Maternal and Infant Health. Kristin Tully, PhD, is a research assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UNC Chapel Hill and a member of the Collaborative for Maternal and Infant Health. We spoke with them about their work in maternal and infant care and what they are discovering about equitable care and its impact on patient safety.

Dr. Bilimoria is the Director of the Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center of Northwestern University, which focuses on national, regional, and local quality improvement research and practical initiatives. He is also the Director of the Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative and a Faculty Scholar at the American College of Surgeons. In the second part of a two-part interview (the earlier one concerned residency duty hours), we spoke with him about quality and safety in surgery.

Dr. Tuckson is President of the American Telemedicine Association. We spoke with him about telemedicine and patient safety.

Dr. Perea-Pérez is Director of the Spanish Observatory for Dental Patient Safety. We spoke with him about patient safety in dentistry.

Geri Amori, PhD, is Vice President for the Education Center at The Risk Management and Patient Safety Institute, and a popular writer and speaker.

Atul Gawande, MD, MA, MPH, Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, is an accomplished surgeon and writer and is the recipient of a 2006 MacArthur Fellowship. He is an active clinician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Gawande has written two acclaimed and best-selling books: Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science and Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance. A staff writer for the New Yorker, he also recently completed a stint as a guest columnist for the New York Times. Dr. Gawande is leading the World Health Organization's Second Global Patient Safety Challenge: "Safe Surgery Saves Lives." We asked him to speak with us about professionalism, training, patient safety, and the writing process.

James P. Bagian, MD, is the Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Patient Safety. Dr. Bagian began his career as a mechanical engineer, then became a physician, trained in surgery and anesthesia. A NASA Astronaut for 15 years, he flew on two space shuttle flights. In 2001, the American Medical Association awarded him the Nathan S. Davis Award for outstanding public service in the advancement of public health. We asked Dr. Bagian to speak with us about his experience transforming safety at in Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide.