DANBURY, CONN. — Internet pioneer Dr. John R. Patrick, author of a newly published book exploring the power of information technology to transform delivery of health care services in the United States, will present his vision for overcoming attitudinal and technological barriers to achievement of fundamental reform in a public forum on Wednesday, April 22, 2015, at Western Connecticut State University.

Patrick, president of Attitude LLC and author of the newly published book, “Health Attitude: Unraveling and Solving the Complexity of Healthcare,” will participate in a discussion with WCSU Professor of Management Dr. Eugene Buccini at 6 p.m. in Room 218 of the Classroom Building on the university’s Westside campus, 43 Lake Ave. Extension in Danbury. The forum, co-sponsored by the Ancell School of Business and the School of Professional Studies at Western, will be followed by a book-signing session with the author. Admission will be free and the public is invited to attend.

Patrick’s lecture will offer perspectives on the emerging technological and clinical innovations that hold great promise to increase the productivity and effectiveness of health care delivery and contribute to improved treatment and wellness strategies for patient care. His talk will explore the potential of specific IT applications including the expanded use of mobile devices to monitor and manage patients’ health conditions, and the wider utilization of data collection and analytics to design more effective, evidence-based treatment plans.

Patrick, a Ridgefield resident whose 38-year career at IBM placed him at the forefront of the Internet revolution in the 1990s, has been a prominent advocate for more than two decades of information technology innovation and the need for fundamental change in corporate, societal and individual attitudes to embrace the full potential of IT applications in all areas of the economy and daily life.

As vice president of Internet technology at IBM, founding member of the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT, and founding member and past chairman of the Global Internet Project, he played a central role in the formative years of Internet development. Since his retirement from IBM, he has been a business and technology adviser to numerous companies, served on the boards of more than 30 corporate, educational and nonprofit organizations, published the widely read patrickWeb blog ranging across a diversity of IT topics, and authored the book, “Net Attitude: What It Is, How to Get It, and Why Your Company Can’t Survive Without It.”

The need for more widespread integration of IT tools and capabilities in the health care system has become a central focus for Patrick’s writings and research in recent years. Recipient of a Doctor of Health Administration degree from the University of Phoenix, Patrick previously served on the board of the Western Connecticut Health Network and currently is a member of the boards of the WesConn Biomedical Research Institute and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

The summary notes for his new book, “Health Attitude,” said that Patrick seeks to show how wider and more extensive IT use in delivery of services will result in “a more affordable, accessible and effective health care system. He sees the inability to share personal health care information between hospitals, specialists and primary care doctors as a major problem. He believes increasing collaboration for more effective health care is not a technical problem — it is attitudinal.”

Patrick has been a frequent lecturer at professional conferences worldwide and his views on IT and Internet developments have been quoted widely in international media. He has been cited by Business 2.0 as one of the IT industry’s most intriguing minds, by Industry Week as one of the top 30 persons who drive innovations leading to economic growth, and by Network World as one of the 25 most powerful persons in networking.

For more information, contact Ancell School of Business Coordinator Kathleen Lindenmayer at lindenmayerk@wcsu.edu or call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

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