Michael R. Anderson, MD, MBA, FAAP, FCCM, FAARC
is a Pediatric Critical Care Physician | Health Care Executive | Child Advocate | and a nationally renowned expert in Disaster Response/Health Policy.
Dr. Anderson has served in several health care leadership roles including as the inaugural President of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco (Dec 2016 to Oct 2020), Chief Medical Officer for the University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland Ohio (2008 to 2016) as well as being appointed by various federal and state agencies to help guide pediatric emergency response and policy.
During the COVID 19 pandemic Dr Anderson was asked to join HHS full time and is currently a Senior Advisor (ctr) to the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at HHS in Washington DC. He has been charged with helping oversee a pediatric-focused response strategy, been a key leader of the COVID therapeutics workgroup and has deployed with federal teams to areas of crisis. His work on novel therapeutics under Operation Warp Speed/Federal COVID Response has focused on stakeholder engagement, product distribution and the creation of innovative infusion centers aimed at saving lives and preserving hospital capacity.
He also serves as a Senior Advisor at Children’s National Hospital in DC.
His career has focused on ensuring patients receive safe, high quality and family-centered care, while developing nationally renowned academic programs of excellence. During his UCSF Presidency, cross campus (SF and Oakland) integration advanced, key clinical and academic programs grew and a record pace of philanthropic fund raising was obtained. Some 4500 employees and a budget of $1.4 billion were under his leadership at UCSF.
From 2008 to 2016, Dr. Anderson was Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for University Hospitals in Cleveland, OH, and Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. His work focused on driving a culture of Safety and High Reliability, driving out unnecessary variation in care (termed High Reliability Medicine), leading GME and developing physician leaders. He was charged with medical oversight for 15 hospitals under the UH system and responsible for a budget of $15 million.
As an academic leader, Dr Anderson has published on a variety of pediatric critical care topics including sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, care for immune-suppressed patients, and transport of unstable pediatric patients. In recognition of his contributions to the field of Critical Care, he was inducted into the American College of Critical Care Medicine in 2018 and became a fellow of the American Association for Respiratory Care in 2019. He has served as a member of Pediatric-Focused NIH review panels.
Building on his pediatric disaster advocacy agenda, Dr Anderson was appointed vice chair of the National Commission on Children and Disasters by President George W. Bush and went on to chair the National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters under the Obama Administration. He has testified before the U.S. Senate, House and the President’s Commission on Bioethics, chaired an Institute of Medicine Committee on Pediatric Disaster Response and Recovery, and worked as a consultant for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During his tenure at UCSF, Dr. Anderson served as a Co-PI for a $6 million grant to create one of two Centers of Excellence in Pediatric Disaster Readiness and Reponses for the Nation.
Dr. Anderson has also served on a number of nonprofit boards in Ohio and the Bay Area, including Med-Works, the Children’s Museum of Cleveland, the Bay Area Council’s Board of Directors, the Ignatian Solidarity Network, the American Heart Association (Gala chair), the California Children’s Hospital Association, and the Youth Ventures Joint Powers Authority in Oakland. Dr Anderson served as chair of strategic planning for Med-Works (focused on providing free care to Cleveland citizens) and Chair of the FBI Foundation (a bridge building nonprofit aimed at crime prevention and public service.)
His commitment to public service has been recognized with several awards, including the Charles Hudson Career Service Award from the Cleveland Medical Association in 2014, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from John Carroll University in 2017. In 2018, Dr. Anderson was named an Executive Fellow at the University of San Francisco for his contributions to nonprofit management.
Dr. Anderson earned his undergraduate degree from John Carroll University and his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He completed his pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan and a pediatric critical care fellowship at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. He also holds an MBA in health care administration from the Kent State University School of Business.
Dr Anderson enjoys travel, swimming, bike riding and most especially spending time with his children and twin toddler grandchildren.