Faculty
Daniel K. Zismer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Director ISP
Dr. Zismer comes to the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health and the ISP program with a 25-year history on the provider side of health care delivery. Most recently he served on the Senior Leadership Team of Essentia Health; a multi state health system headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. The largest component of Essentia Health is SMDC, an integrated health system with $800 million in annual operating revenues. SMDC is an integrated health system with nearly 400 employed physicians across most clinical specialties. Essentia Health also includes operating assets, integrated delivery models and physician partnerships in North Dakota, Montana and Wisconsin. It owns an interest in a multi-state long-term care delivery system as well. Dr. Zismer assisted in the formation of Essentia while serving as Managing Principal of Dorsey Health Strategies, Dorsey and Whitney, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In addition to his operations experience, Dr. Zismer has led a sizable number of large-scale health systems and medical practice integrations as well as specialty-focused hospital/physician partnerships and joint venture formations.
He is a regular lecturer for the American College of Health Care Executives, Child Health Corporation and Voluntary Hospitals of America. He has served as visiting faculty for the Physician Leadership College, St. Thomas University. He maintains consulting and advisory relationships with Essentia Health as well as with several other large U.S. Health Systems. He has a special interest in executive and physician leadership education and development.
Dr. Zismer's health systems research interests focus principally on the operating economics and value creation of integrated health systems. Dr. Zismer can be reached at the University of Minnesota, 612-625-5148 or through the ISP office at 612-625-1555. His e-mail address is zisme006@umn.edu.
Vernon E. Weckwerth, Ph.D.
Professor and ISP Director Emeritus
Dr. Weckwerth has made it his life's work to improve the delivery of health services throughout the world. He is motivated by the fundamental belief that health is a basic human right and that a healthy society is a peaceful society.
A pioneer in the field of global education, he developed the University's ISP Executive Study Programs in health care administration in 1969, the first of its kind for the field. The ISP enhances health care leadership throughout the world by engaging top-level health care executives who are unable to take time away from their professional careers to attend an on-campus educational program. The curriculum is offered almost entirely abroad, under the philosophy that networking and mentoring in the student’s home region is of the utmost value. Under his leadership, the program has built outstanding leaders in more than 150 healthcare organizations on five continents. Professor Weckwerth’s students have risen to great heights in their careers, becoming hospital CEOs and even national health ministers.
His students have described his devotion to the ISP program as inspirational, passionate, humble, and selfless. For each student he has recruited from abroad, he has ensured that each student received exceptional support and ongoing personal contact. He is an influential mentor and teacher. Each year he conducts ISP International Regional Seminars in up to a dozen countries, to allows ISP students to attend the regional seminars without having to travel to the U.S.
The success and stability of hospitals and health care systems around the world can be traced directly to Professor Weckwerth and his critical role in educating locally based healthcare administration professionals.
Professor Weckwerth spent his entire educational career at the University of Minnesota, where he started out as an undergraduate (math and education ’54) and continued on to earn his master’s (biostatistics and math ’56) and Ph.D. (biostatistics and public health ’63). He has served as a faculty member in the School of Public Health for 53 years. In addition, he hold appointments in the Medical School and adjunct appointments in the Humphrey Institute, College of Pharmacy, and School of Nursing. He has represented the University in many professional organizations, including the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, attending every annual meeting since 1969.
Source. Office of International Programs
Faculty of the Original ISP Off-Site Executive Healthcare Study Program
Course 1 Faculty
Course 2 Faculty
Course 3 Faculty
Last modified on Wednesday May 23, 2007