The Wennberg International Collaborative (WIC) was founded in 2010 by Dr. David Goodman of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice (U.S.) and Professor R. Gwyn Bevan of the London School of Economics and Political Science (U.K.). The inaugural meeting was held at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2010.
The goal of the Collaborative is to accelerate research into the causes and consequences of unwarranted health care variation across regions and providers. The WIC was organized in response to the complex and often controversial nature of this research that has led to slow progress in many countries. The Collaborative seeks to reduce barriers in the field through sponsoring research and policy meetings, facilitating collaboration amongst members, advocating for health care data availability, and serving as a clearinghouse for research and policy findings. The primary focus of the WIC is variation in health system performance within countries, although some members also examine variation across countries.
The WIC is a community of scholars and policymakers (and their interests, ideas, and technical capabilities) that provides support to emerging investigators and projects. Presentation topics during meetings range from new critical questions, novel methods, recent findings, and innovative policy and improvement ideas.
The Fall Research Collaborative meeting is a small meeting, convened by invitation, which is primarily directed at health care investigators and other interested researchers. The meeting is generally held in London or Oxford. The WIC prioritizes attendance for early investigators and those from countries where the study of health care variation is less developed. The meetings have a high level of interaction and networking.
The Spring Policy Collaborative meeting has open registration and rotates to a different country each year (2015 Berlin, Germany; 2016 Pisa, Italy; 2017 Melbourne, Australia; 2018 Zurich, Switzerland.) These meetings have a greater emphasis on the policy and improvement aspects of variation, and are also relatively more focused on the health care system of the hosting country. International attendees are also welcome to attend.
Visit the Network/Research page for more information about current collaborative members and the Join page to be added to our mailing list to stay up to date with the current Collaborative news, research, and events!
Sponsorship opportunities are available for WIC meetings. Please contact the Wennberg International Collaborative to learn how you can support this effort to bring insight into health care.