Sackett, David L.

David L. Sackett is widely regarded as one of the originators of evidence-based medicine (EBM), which is the integration of the best research evidence and clinical expertise in the care of individual patients. Evidence-based medicine has revolutionized the thinking of many clinical practitioners.

Over the years, Sackett has developed and mentored a cadre of applied clinician-scientists who have disseminated the practice of evidence-based medicine throughout the world. These research teams have been at the forefront of medicine. They were the first to validate the efficacy of aspirin and carotid endarterectomy for patients with threatened stroke. They developed strategies for hypertensive patients to comply with their drug regimes. And they found compelling evidence for the effectiveness of nurse practitioners.

Sackett was the founding chair of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He rose through the academic ranks at the university and became professor and chair of the Division of Internal Medicine. After nearly 27 years at McMaster University, Sackett moved to Oxford University in 1994 to become founding director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and professor of Epidemiology in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine. He also was founding chair of the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group, which is an organization dedicated to the dissemination of systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare interventions.

Sackett has authored many books in the field of epidemiology, including Clinical Epidemiology: A Basic Science for Clinical Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine: How to Practice and Teach EBM. He has also authored or coauthored over 300 journal articles. Sackett has been involved in hundreds of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as a principal investigator, consultant, or member or chair of a data safety monitoring board.

Sackett has received numerous honors and awards, including the Trillium Clinical Scientist Award, the Zinkoff Honor Award, the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, and the Health Services Research Prize from the Baxter International Foundation, and he was elected to the Canada Medical Hall of Fame. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and Edinburgh. He is also an elected member of many learned societies, including the Royal Society of Canada, the American and Canadian Societies for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Canadian Society for Internal Medicine, and the Pan American Health Association.

Born in Chicago, Sackett earned a bachelor's degree from Lawrence College in 1956. He earned a second bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois in 1958. He then went on to earn his medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine, followed by a medical residency at the University of Illinois Research and Educational Hospital. Sackett then completed a postdoctoral [Page 1060]fellowship in nephrology and earned a master of science degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He also was awarded a doctor of science degree from the University of Bern.

Currently, Sackett resides in Canada, where he continues to write and teach. He is the founder and director of the Kilgore S. Trout Research and Education Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, an organization dedicated to training young researchers.

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