Speaker's Bio: Commissioner Nirav R. Shah, M.D., MPH

Dr. Nirav R. Shah is the 15th New York State Commissioner of Health. 

As Commissioner, Dr. Shah oversees the administration of the state’s public health insurance programs, which provide health care to 5 million New Yorkers. He leads a major statewide health information technology initiative; oversees the regulation of hospitals and other health care facilities; supports primary care development; manages a premier biomedical laboratory; and directs public health prevention initiatives related to tobacco use, obesity, HIV/AIDS and other public health priorities.

Dr. Shah is a member of Governor Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign Team, whose recommendations implemented by the 2011-2012 State Budget will achieve historic reform of the State Medicaid system to reduce costs by $2.3 billion and improve quality of care.

Dr. Shah is an expert in the use of systems-based methods to improve patient outcomes, and he has been a leading researcher in the use of large-scale clinical laboratories and electronic health records to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of care. He is a nationally recognized thought leader in the methods needed to transition to lower-cost, patient-centered health care for the 21st century.

Before his government service, Dr. Shah was attending physician at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, associate investigator at the Geisinger Center for Health Research in central Pennsylvania, and assistant professor at the New York University School of Medicine in value and comparative effectiveness.

A native of Buffalo, Dr. Shah is an honors graduate of Harvard College and received his medical degree and master's degree in public health from the Yale School of Medicine. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UCLA and a National Research Service Award Fellow at New York University.

Dr. Shah is a fellow of American College of Physicians and the New York Academy of Medicine. He has served on the editorial boards of medical journals, has published more than 90 peer-reviewed articles, and has received more than $4.5 million in research funding. He is certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.