Denis Cortese is a champion of high-quality and patient-centered health care. He is currently Director of the Health Care Delivery and Policy Program at Arizona State University (ASU); Foundation Professor at ASU; and President of the Healthcare Transformation Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare delivery and lowering health care costs.

He was the initial Chair of the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Value and Science Driven Healthcare and was a member of the advisory boards of Rand Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.  He has served on the boards of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Cerner Corp, Pinnacle West (Arizona Public Service). 

Denis started medical practice at the Mayo Clinic in 1970 as a clinician in internal and pulmonary/critical care medicine.  He was a Professor of Medicine engaged in clinical care, education programs, basic and clinical research, and served in various administrative positions at Mayo. He was the Vice President and CEO of the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville practice in the late 1990s. Beginning in the summer of 2002 he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, retiring in late 2009.  He joined the Board of Directors of Lumeris in 2010.