Dr. William Ghali, MD, MPH, is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. He is holder of a Government of Canada Research Chair in Health Services Research and a Senior Health Scholar Award from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. Clinically, he is trained as a General Internist (MD [‘90] - University of Calgary, FRCP(C) [‘94] - Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario), while his methodological training in health services research and epidemiology was obtained in the Health Research Unit at Boston University, where he also completed a Masters of Public Health Degree (MPH [‘95]). Dr. Ghali’s research program is in the general area of health services research with a focus on for four inter-related high incidence and prevalence conditions -- cardiac disease, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, and venous thromboembolic disease. He is one of the leaders of the Medical Ward of the 21st Century Initiative (www.w21c.org).