A worldwide expert in the field of patient safety, James Battles is the Social Science Analyst for Patient Safety with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). He has led AHRQ’s efforts in advancing the use of more proactive risk assessment and moving to risk-informed design of patient safety interventions. He also leads AHRQ’s efforts in the assessment of patient safety culture and improving teamwork in collaboration with the department of defense. An intellectual heavyweight, he is an internationally renowned expert in the area of patient safety.

Prior to joining AHRQ, James was a Captain in the United States Navy for 38 years. Among many of his duties, he commanded four large naval reserve units; 2 in Columbus, 1 in Cincinnati, Ohio and 1 in El Paso, Texas. He earned the Viet Nam Veteran Service medal and the Presidential Unit Citation Award for its activities during war. During this period he was also Professor of Biomedical Communication at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas where he served as the director of faculty development activities and programs; was an evaluator for various educational projects involving pre-doctoral and residency training activities; taught courses in assessment and evaluation, instructional methods, management; advised students and directed student research in a Masters of Arts in Biomedical Communications. He also provided educational support services to the entire university. Before this, he was Director of the Ohio Regional Medical Consortium. In this role, he was Chief Executive Officer of the consortium, managing personnel, financial matters, materials production, and grant development. He has a PhD in Curriculum and Foundations and an MA in Educational Communications from Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He has authored several articles and book chapters over the past several years. Recognized for his work in the field, he received a Literary Award from the Health Sciences Communication Association (1990) and The Journal of Biocommunication (JBC) names his the best article of 1989 written by a HeSCA member.