Biography
Rainu Kaushal, MD MPH is the Chief of the Division of Quality and Medical Informatics at Weill Cornell Medical College, Director of Pediatric Quality and Safety for the Phyllis and David Komansky Center for Children’s Health at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and the Executive Director of the Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative (HITEC). She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics, Medicine and Public Health.
Dr. Kaushal is an expert in quality, patient safety and health information technology (health IT). She has particular expertise in pediatric medication safety and in measuring the effects of health IT on health care quality and costs. Dr. Kaushal is engaged in research, patient care, management and operations activities at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, all geared toward using health IT to optimize the value of health care today.
Dr. Kaushal holds multiple leadership positions. In 2005, Dr. Kaushal founded and became the Executive Director of HITEC, a consortium of four universities in New York State. Its mission is to conduct rigorous evaluations of initiatives being undertaken as part of a novel and ambitious $250 million New York State program called “HEAL NY.” HITEC has been recognized as the New York State-designated entity for HEAL NY evaluation.
In 2007, Dr. Kaushal became the first Chief of the Division of Quality and Medical Informatics at Weill Cornell, a dynamic new Division established by the Medical College to address the importance of health IT as a cornerstone of health care reform. In this role, she has assembled an extensive team of faculty members, including health service researchers, biostatisticians, and policy experts, supported by multiple project mangers and research coordinators. The Division recently created a formal training program in quality and medical informatics.
In addition, Dr. Kaushal serves as the Director of Pediatric Quality and Safety at the Komansky Center, striving to translate research learning into operational improvements. She also continues to clinically attend on the inpatient pediatric service at the Komansky Center.
Dr. Kaushal has published more than 60 scholarly publications and is a frequent invited speaker. She has served on numerous national advisory committees focused on health information technology and/or patient safety. Dr. Kaushal has formally consulted with other researchers on methodological issues as well as with policy makers on state and federal issues. Finally, Dr. Kaushal has served on editorial boards for health care journals and on several study sections for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Dr. Kaushal attended Harvard Medical School, and then completed her residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital in Boston, attaining double board certification in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. She then completed the Harvard Clinical Effectiveness Fellowship while obtaining a Masters in Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health. She joined and remained on faculty at Harvard Medical School until 2006 when she joined the faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College.
