Robert Wachter author biography, plus links to books by Robert Wachter.

Robert Wachter

Robert Wachter is chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he is also the Holly Smith Distinguished Professor in Science and Medicine and holds the Benioff Endowed Chair in Hospital Medicine. He has appeared more than a dozen times on Modern Healthcare magazine's list of the fifty most influential physician-executives in the US and was number one on the list in 2015. An elected mem­ber of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine, he coined the term "hospitalist" and is considered the father of the hospitalist field, the fastest-growing specialty in modern medicine. He is the author of five books, including The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine's Computer Age. He is married to author and journalist Katie Hafner; they live in San Francisco with their miniature poodle, Newman.

This biography was last updated on 02/03/2026.

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