Daphne Bascom
DPhil student, Marshall Scholar, 1988-91
Daphne Bascom MD, PhD joined the Laboratory of Physiology as a Marshall Scholar in 1988 to study for her DPhil in the Robbins group under the supervision of Professor Peter Robbins. Her work focused on furthering understanding of the physiology of respiratory responses to high altitude stimuli, with a specific focus on better understanding the adaptive response of the human chemoreceptors to low oxygen and high carbon dioxide challenges. During her time in the Department, she was awarded the prestigious Peter Beaconsfield Prize in Physiological Sciences (1990).
After completing her studies in Oxford, Dr Bascom returned to the USA to continue her education at the University of Pittsburgh and Oregon Health Sciences University, where she obtained her Fellowship in Microvascular and Reconstructive Surgery of the Head and Neck. In 2002, she joined the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at Case Medical Center. She later became Managing Director (2007, eCleveland Clinic) and Chief Clinical Systems Officer (2010) at the Cleveland Clinic, one of America's top hospitals (in fact recently ranked no.2 hospital in the world by Newsweek). She also progressed her leadership career to several Vice President and Chief Medical Officer positions (2005-6, 2011-16) at the Cerner Corporation, a major global supplier of health information technology services. In 2017, she joined the major non-profit YMCA of the USA, first as Senior Vice President of Community Integrated Health and Healthy Living, and from 2018 served as the Interim National Health Officer, which Dr Bascom describes as "an amazing opportunity to truly explore novel ways to impact the health of our communities." Her role involved partnering with local YMCAs to define and operationalise innovative clinical integration strategies leveraging existing evidence-based health programs and to further evolve a community integrated health strategy. Her work with local and national teams helped to create innovative models for clinical - community integration. Most recently, in 2019, she took on the role of Vice President, Population Health, at non-profit hospital network St Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Missouri. She is also a member of numerous Boards and Councils, including the Cardiometabolic Center Alliance National Board of Directors, United Healthcare Physician Advisory Committee and the American Lung Association.
Dr Daphne Bascom fondly remembers her time in the Department: "Studying in the Physiology Lab was one of the most formative experiences of my career. DPAG is an amazing environment of amazingly intelligent, kind, collaborative, and purpose-driven scientists. I was honored to have the opportunity to learn in this environment."
Read Association of Marshall Scholars Profile.