Dr Carol Peden Executive Director for Clinical Quality & Adjunct Professor of Anesthesiology

About me

Carol is a Quality Improvement Fellow and Executive Director for Clinical Quality at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the Adjunct Professor of Anesthesiology at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, USA. 

Professor Peden was a 2008/9 Health Foundation Quality Improvement Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

She was recently appointed as Executive Director for Clinical Quality of a new Center for Heath System Innovation, and a Professor of Anesthesiology, at the University of Pennsylvania.  

Previously Carol was Associate Medical Director for Quality Improvement, and Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the Royal United Hospitals Bath. Carol spent a year as Associate Medical Director for Clinical Quality for NHS England. 

Carol’s quality improvement project as a Fellow focused on improving outcomes for the high risk emergency surgical patient. She co-founded the emergency laparotomy network, which led to the development of the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) funded by the national Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership.

Professor Peden is on the NELA board and QI lead. She also sat on national committees with the Royal College of Surgeons and Department of Health to create standards for high risk and emergency surgical patients.  

On returning from IHI in 2009, Carol was a Faculty member of the South West Quality and Patient Safety Improvement programme, leading the Intensive Care workstream. She has continued to work with IHI on their programmes internationally, including as Perioperative lead for the Danish Safer Hospital Program (Patientsikkert Sygehus).

Professor Peden is an Editor of the Royal College of Anaesthetists Audit and Quality Improvement book, is the 2016 Ellis Gillespie Professor of the Australia and New Zealand College of Anesthestists, the 2013/14 Macintosh Professor of the Royal College of Anaesthetists UK and was awarded their Humphry Davy Medal in 2013.

Her research interests include improving clinical outcomes, incident reporting, perioperative medicine and developing safer clinical systems. She has a BSc in Medical Sciences, a Medical degree (MB ChB) and a research doctorate in Medicine (MD) from the University of Edinburgh, and a Masters in Public Health (MPH) from Harvard University.