Vikas Saini, MD is President of the Lown Institute. He completed his MD with distinction from Dalhousie University in Halifax (1980), residency at Johns Hopkins Bayview, and a Lown Fellowship at Harvard and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. As a house officer he was the President of the Baltimore Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Dr. Saini joined the Lown Group in 1987 before leaving to co-found Aspect Medical Systems, the pioneer in consciousness monitoring technologies in the operating room and critical care setting. There he served on the Board of Directors and was the first Vice-President for Research. He organized the company’s initial clinical research trials and helped secure early rounds of angel and venture capital investments for the development of the BIS monitor before returning to the practice of cardiology. Aspect Medical made its initial public offering in 2000 and was acquired by Covidien in 2009.
While in private practice, Dr. Saini was a founding partner of The Cardiovascular Specialists, the largest cardiovascular practice on Cape Cod. He also founded and was Chairman of Cape Physicians, LLC, a primary care physician network participating in global and alternative payment methods which has remained financially successful since its inception.
In 2007 Dr. Saini returned to the Brigham and Women’s Hospital as an attending physician and to the Lown Institute as President. Dr. Saini is Board-certified in Cardiovascular Disease, Internal Medicine, and Nuclear Cardiology. He has served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. At Harvard, he initiated the first course focused on policy translation for the global prevention of cardiovascular disease.
With Shannon Brownlee of the New America Foundation, Dr. Saini convened the Avoiding Avoidable Care Conference in April 2012, the first major academic conference focused on the problem of overuse. That event has evolved into the annual Lown Conference. With Ms. Brownlee, he is the co-convener of the Right Care Alliance, a grassroots network of physicians, nurses, patient activists, and community leaders dedicated to creating public demand for care that is safe, effective, affordable, and just.
He has spoken and presented research about avoiding unnecessary care at professional meetings around the world. Dr. Saini has been a columnist for Prevention India magazine, has been quoted in numerous print media, and has been a guest commentator on radio and television. His intellectual interests include nutritional and preventive cardiology, technology applications for medicine, the biology of aging, and global health.
Speaking Engagements 2017–2019
2018
Yale University. Improving the Generation and Uptake of Medical Evidence: Implications of ORBITA. Panel Discussant, The ORBITA Study: Evidence Base Prior to the Study, Study Design, Findings, Lingering Questions. New Haven, CT. May 31, 2018
Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare. First National Conference on Ethical Health Care. Keynote: Challenges Faced for Right/Ethical Healthcare in a Global Context. New Delhi, India. April 2018
Lown Institute’s 6th Annual Conference. Breaking the Cycle of High Cost & Low Value: America’s Next Health System. Welcome, Introductions, and Closing Remarks. Washington, DC. April 9-10, 2018
Lahey Hospital and Medical Center. Cardiology Grand Rounds. Burlington, MA. February 15, 2018
2017
Hospital Compliance Forum. The Challenge of Delivering the Right Care. Sao Paul, Brazil. November 30, 2017
Colloque HAS: Appropriateness of Care, Moving from Concept to Action. Panel: The Concept of Appropriateness of Care and Its Determinants. Paris, France. November 14, 2017
McGill School of Medicine. The 2nd International Congress on Whole Person Care. Restoring Relationships to Transform Healthcare. Montreal, Canada. October 12, 2017
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Bayview Medical Center. Medical Grand Rounds. Baltimore, MD. October 10, 2017
First National Symposium of the High Value Practice, National Research and Education Symposium High Value Practice Academic Research Alliance. Providing the Right Care: A Systematic Framework. Baltimore, MD. October 9, 2017
Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. 2017 Symposium. University of Columbia, Missouri. October 7, 2017
The Missouri Chapter of the American College of Physicians Meeting. The Challenge of Defining the Right Care. Osage Beach, MO. September 16, 2017
Preventing Overdiagnosis 2017. Keynote; Panel: Defining the Right Care Requires a New Science. Quebec, Canada. August 19, 2017
The Fourth International Seminar on Patient Safety and Clinical Excellence. Madrid, Spain. May 11, 2017
Lown Institute’s 5th Annual Conference. Beyond the Bottom Line: Defending the Human Connection in Health Care. Welcome, Introductions, and Closing Remarks. Quincy, MA. May 5-7, 2017
Second Annual UHC Financing Forum: Focus on Efficiency. Technical Working Group. Washington, DC. April 20, 2017
Stanford School of Medicine Medical Grand Rounds. A Hundred Year Flood: Rethinking Modern Medicine. Stanford, CA. April 12, 2017