In 1978 a United Airlines DC-8 crashed near Portland, Oregon, killing 10 people on board because of ineffective communication between a pilot and his flight engineer over the fuel level. In 1998 an eight-year-old boy named Richard Leonard died during routine laparoscopic surgery because an anesthesiologist failed to listen to the repeated warnings of attending nurses. In both cases--and in thousands like them--lives have been lost because of simple human errors, primarily from lack of communication, teamwork, and collaborative decision-making. Research shows that more than 70 percent of all airline accidents involve some degree of human error. And a recent Harvard study indicates that 180,000 people die each year from medical errors.

For more than 30 years Robert Helmreich, a psychology professor at The University of Texas at Austin, has been examining team management under stress. His research has led him to help develop a highly successful training program called CRM (Crew Resource Management) that is teaching pilots, cockpit crews, flight attendants, and traffic controllers to work as a team to reduce errors. The FAA has now made CRM mandatory training for flight crews at all major and regional airlines.

Impressed with his approach to stress management and teamwork, a Swiss university asked Helmreich to help them adapt his methods to the operating room.

In addition to his teaching and research in Austin, Robert Helmreich now travels the globe presenting United Nations-sponsored seminars on "Human Factors and Flight Safety" and introducing his training methods. At The University of Texas he has trained a succession of outstanding doctoral students who are carrying on his work in the airline industry and other areas.

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