Rajesh Shah, MD, Named Associate Chair for Quality and Safety

Rajesh Shah, MD, professor of clinical radiology and Director of Clinical Trials, is the Associate Chair for Quality and Safety, effective August 1. This high-visibility role within the department and Health system ensures a strategic approach to assessing and standardizing high quality, safe imaging for UCSF patients.

Dr. Shah joined the UCSF faculty in 2024 from California Pacific Medical Center, where he served as director of interventional radiology. Before that, he was interim chief of radiology at the VA Palo Health Care Systems and associate professors of radiology at Stanford University. For a decade, he has served on Society for Interventional Radiology (SIR) quality and safety committees, creating the Quality and Performance Improvement Division and serving as its Division Councilor for the past seven years.

In his short time at UCSF, Dr. Shah has exemplified the ‘phenotype’ of an academic radiologist. He established a genicular artery embolization and genicular nerve ablation program, expanded a lung ablation program, and launched a histotripsy program with IR colleagues Nicholas Fidelman, MD, and R. Peter Lokken, MD. His research applies foundation AI models to text within the electronic health record to detect procedure related complications and medical device-related issues.

As associate chair, Dr. Shah oversees departmental and UCSF imaging safety policies and will chair the department’s Quality and Safety committee. He will represent the department on the Health system’s Clinical Performance and Medical Director committees and work closely with the UCSF Health Chief Quality Officer.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Shah as he begins his new role.