We are saddened to share the news of the death of Richard I. Cook, MD, on August 31, 2022. He was arguably the best-known and most accomplished anesthesia-based expert on safety in the world.
Richard graduated cum laude from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1975. He worked on supercomputer design and engineering applications at Control Data Corporation from 1975 to 1980. He graduated with his MD from the University of Cincinnati in 1986 and completed his anesthesiology residency in 1994. His gap years during that time were spent learning about accidents, safety, and complex systems with David Woods at the Ohio State University, the leading expert in the U.S. on these topics. From 1994 to 2012, Dr. Cook was a member of the Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care at the University of Chicago.
While at the University of Chicago, Richard helped found the National Patient Safety Foundation at...