David A. Ansell (born 1952) is a Chicago-based physician, social epidemiologist and author. His efforts at both the national and local levels have advanced concerns about health inequities and the structure of the US health care system. His years as a provider to the medically underserved have made him a vocal supporter of single-payer health care. He spent seventeen years at Cook County Hospital currently known as John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County upon which the medical T.V. drama ER was based. Ansell was inspired by his time at Cook County Hospital to write a memoir and social history entitled, County: Life, Death, and Politics in Chicago’s Public Hospital. County was hailed as a "landmark book" by Julia Keller of the Chicago Tribune, aiming "to inform and to inspire" readers about the disparities in health care. In the book, Ansell argues that only a single-payer solution that provides access to all US residents regardless of circumstances can provide relief for those closed out of the health care system. Early years and education Ansell spent his formative years in Binghamton, New York. After high school, he attended Franklin and Marshall College (B.A., 1974) and medical school at the SUNY Upstate Medical University (M.D., 1978) He received his Masters of Public Health from the University of Illinois School of Public Health (1991) Medical education and training After finishing medical school in 1978, Ansell trained at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, one of the nation's oldest and foremost public hospitals. After residency, Ansell served at County as attending physician for 13 years, joining other physicians in a new Division of General Medicine/Primary Care. Efforts against patient dumping In the mid 1980s, Ansell and colleagues noted a marked increase in the numbers of patients transferred to public hospitals around Chicago and the US, due to a lack of health insurance. This practice is known as patient dumping. In 1984, Ansell joined a project led by Robert Schiff], M.D., to expose patient dumping in Chicago. He contributed to the article "Transfers to a Public Hospital" that appeared in the February 1986 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, criticizing patient dumping and the unnecessary deaths it caused. Efforts against patient dumping like this eventually led to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act that made the emergency transfers of patients illegal. Health Inequity Work Ansell founded and directed one of first programs in the