Neelam Dhingra
Neelam Dhingra, MBBS, MD, is the Vice President and Chief Patient Safety Officer for Joint Commission International (JCI). In this role, she leads JCI global efforts in providing strategic leadership on patient safety and promotes all aspects of JCI’s patient safety and quality improvement activities internationally. Dr. Dhingra also serves as the chief spokesperson on patient safety and quality topics externally at international conferences and events. Serving as the key liaison between JCI and the patient safety community, including Ministries of Health, inter-governmental organizations, non-government organizations, and healthcare organizations and systems, she will guide transformation of the design of services to further enhance patient safety and quality.
Dr. Dhingra is a dedicated professional and passionate global advocate with decades of experience in the field of patient safety, both nationally and internationally. She has galvanized global efforts to provide strategic and technical leadership on patient safety, with a key role in identifying and developing global policies, strategies, tools, mechanisms, and fostering partnerships to improve patient safety.
Prior to coming to JCI, Dr. Dhingra served for around 25 years leading the World Health Organization (WHO)’s programs on patient safety and blood safety at its headquarters in Geneva. Her most recent position was Unit Head, Patient Safety Flagship. Under her leadership in this role, several key milestones were achieved including: WHO Global Patient Safety Report 2024, World Health Assembly resolution ‘Global Action on Patient Safety’, ‘Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030', World Patient Safety Day, Global Patient Safety Network, Patient and Family Engagement and Global Patient Safety Challenge: Medication Without Harm, among others. She has extensive national and international expertise in patient safety and quality improvement, health systems, blood transfusion medicine and hematology, communicable diseases, HIV/AIDS, and project and program management.
Dr. Dhingra received her M.B.B.S. (Medical Graduate Degree) Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India. She received her M.D. Pathology (Post Graduate Medical Degree) Doctor of Medicine from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, and advanced training fellowships from the United Kingdom.