Presented September 9, 2026 at the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference on “SOS!: Signals of Safety… Safely across the Patient’s Perioperative Journey”
ABOUT THE SPEAKER(S)
Rollin J. “Terry” Fairbanks, MD, MS
Senior Vice President, Chief Quality & Safety Officer, MedStar Health
Professor of Emergency Medicine, Georgetown University
Rollin J “Terry” Fairbanks MD MS is senior vice president, chief quality & safety officer, MedStar Health, and professor of emergency medicine, Georgetown University, responsible for clinical quality, patient safety, infection prevention, and health equity at MedStar Health, a 10-hospital academic health system in the Baltimore/Washington DC region. An emergency physician, human factors engineer, safety science researcher, and former paramedic and general aviation pilot, Dr. Fairbanks founded the National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare in 2010, the largest healthcare-embedded human factors/safety center in the US. He has published more than 200 papers and a book on healthcare safety, and served in advisory roles for the US, Great Britian, Spain, and Australian governments. Dr. Fairbanks is an elected Fellow in the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, appointed member of the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine Board on Human-Systems Integration, Board Chair, Certification Board for Patient Safety Professionals (CPPS), and Board Chair, Mid-Atlantic Patient Safety Center. Dr. Fairbanks earned a BA in mathematics and physics from Potsdam College, MS in human factors/industrial systems engineering from Virginia Tech, Medical Degree from VCU/Medical College of Virginia, and emergency medicine residency at University of Rochester where he served as chief resident. He is a recipient of the Robert Wears Safety Leadership Award and the Eisenberg Award for Individual Achievement in Quality and Safety.
