Vector: Does clinical medicine have the courage to lead health care reform? A former pediatric resident at Boston Children’s Hospital recently asked this question before a standing-room-only audience during the hospital’s annual Blackfan Lecture. I’m talking about Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP—co-founder and president emeritus of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)and Administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from July 2010 to December 2011.

Berwick, who may run for Massachusetts Governor in 2014, didn’t just ask physicians and hospitals to embrace health care reform, as they’ve come to embrace quality improvement programs and checklists. He urged them to lead. To rescue health care.