MD – University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI
Residency – Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

Biography: Dr. Shaw Natsui, emergency medicine physician, is interested in improving the quality of acute care delivery and access to care for vulnerable populations. As a Scholar, he focused on the implementation science of leveraging health services research to inform and lead multidisciplinary interventions and policies on the local, state, and national levels.   

Dr. Natsui worked with his mentors, Drs. Adam Sharp and Benjamin Sun, on his main research project entitled, “Improving outcomes after an emergency department (ED) evaluation for suspected acute coronary syndrome.” This project, in partnership with Kaiser Permanente Southern California, aimed to 1) compare 30-day outcomes of early diagnostic testing strategies for suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS); 2) compare 30-day outcomes of disposition strategies for suspected ACS; 3) assess whether pre-test risk affects the comparative effectiveness of early diagnostic and disposition strategies for suspected ACS; and 4) compare cost-effectiveness of early diagnostic and disposition strategies for suspected ACS.  Dr. Natsui collected comprehensive clinical data on a prospective cohort of approximately 170,000 patients evaluated for suspected ACS within a large integrated health system.  His research team compared outcomes and cost-effectiveness of multiple strategies used in “real-life” settings, and propensity score and instrumental variable analyses were used to mitigate confounding.  The overall goal of the study was to improve outcomes after an ED evaluation for suspected ACS, as ACS is currently the leading cause of worldwide mortality and morbidity. 

Dr. Natsui also worked on a project with mentor Dr. Daniella Meeker (USC) in collaboration with Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, UC Davis, Health Facts, and d2i.  The project, entitled, “Improve the Quality and Equity of Decisions of Emergency Medicine (IQED),” built on prior multi-site studies of electronic medical record-based interventions and workflow analysis in over 23 emergency departments, showing evidence of decision failures and intervention opportunities.  In this study, Dr. Natsui’s team completed a comprehensive analysis of two large databases to explore performance improvement opportunities in emergency medicine, evidence of disparities, and evidence of decision fatigue.  

Dr. Natsui additionally collaborated with Dr. Yusuke Tsugawa on a project entitled, “Examining trends in readmissions following the implementation of the NRRP,” as well as a project entitled, “Associations between utilization and outcomes,” under the mentorship of Drs. Hemel Kanzaria, Maria Raven, Mac McCullough, and Renee Hsia. His research portfolio also included a project in collaboration with mentors Jerry Hoffman and Hemel Kanzaria, entitled, “Housing Insecurity and Homelessness among ED Patients.” 

Dr. Natsui was awarded the 2017-18 UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) TL1 Translational Science Fellowship for Postdoctoral Trainees in Health Policy & Management.  He also served as an attending physician at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Emergency Department, completing on-shift teaching with residents, and planning future involvement in weekly didactics and journal clubs.  In 2018, Dr. Natsui had a manuscript accepted for publication in Critical Pathways in Cardiology, entitled, “Facilitators and Barriers to Reducing Emergency Department Admissions for Patients with Chest Pain,” and was also invited to present at the 2018 Society for Academic Emergency Annual Meeting on his work, titled “Assessing Emergency Department Guideline Concordance and Outcomes after Outpatient Cardiac Stress Testing.” 

Dr. Shaw Natsui has now joined the central office leadership team at NYC Health + Hospitals, the nation’s largest public health care system, with 11 acute care hospitals, dozens of community health centers, and over 70 primary care clinics that provide essential services to more than 1 million New Yorkers. In his role as Director of Emergency Medicine Innovation, he will focus on quality, operations, data governance, and care delivery models for acute care.