Lucian Leape
Lucian L. Leape was an American pediatric surgeon and academic, who became one of the world's foremost experts on preventing medical errors. His most important works on the topic were the results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study, published in 1991 in the New England Journal of Medicine and the article "Error in Medicine," published in JAMA in 1994, which called for the application of systems theory to prevent medical errors. His work drew early anger and criticism, but eventually won over the medical professions.
Early life and education
Born in Bellevue, Pennsylvania on November 7, 1930, his father Lucian Leroy Leape was a purchasing agent and his mother Mildred Grace Leape was a teacher and piano instructor.Leape earned the Eagle Scout award as a youth and was recognized by the Boy Scouts of America as a Distinguished Eagle Scout.
Leape received an AB from Cornell University in 1952, where he studied chemistry. He met his future wife, Martha Palmer, at Cornell. He also served on an Interfraternity Council committee "to study discrimination as a fraternity problem." He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1959.
Between his graduation from Cornell and attending Harvard Medical School, Leape was an officer in the United States Navy Reserve and served on the USS Leyte. He rose to the rank of lieutenant.
Pediatric surgeon
His postgraduate training took place at Massachusetts General Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston.Leape became a pediatric surgeon, eventually becoming professor of surgery at Tufts Medical School and chief of pediatric surgery at New England Medical Center in 1973.
Medical safety
In 1997, he testified before a subcommittee of the US Senate with his recommendations for improving medical safety.Leape became a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.