Arjun K. Venkatesh, MD, MBA, MHS, FACEP, is a distinguished leader in emergency medicine, currently serving as Chair and Chief of Emergency Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital. He has secured more than $12 million in funding from prominent organizations, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These funds have been instrumental in his efforts to develop measures and interventions aimed at improving acute care outcomes and enhancing the value of healthcare services.
Dr. Venkatesh has been a key contributor to health care quality improvement and has played a pivotal role in supporting CMS’s development of the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings. This initiative helps patients and their families make informed decisions about health care by providing accessible and comprehensible quality information. Additionally, he has led the development of quality measures for the Clinical Emergency Data Registry, a critical tool in the ongoing effort to standardize and improve emergency care.
Dr. Venkatesh’s expertise is further demonstrated by his role as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Emergency Quality Network (E-QUAL). Under his leadership, E-QUAL has made significant strides in advancing emergency care quality across the nation. His dedication to improving health care outcomes is reflected in his extensive body of work with over 200 publications to his name. These publications have not only contributed to the academic field but also have been implemented in numerous national quality and value programs, influencing policy and practice on a broad scale.
Dr. Venkatesh completed medical school at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, his emergency medicine residency at the Brigham and Women’s Massachusetts General Hospitals and his Master of Health Science at the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Yale University.
Through his research, leadership and commitment to excellence, Dr. Venkatesh continues to drive significant advancements in emergency medicine, ensuring that patients receive the highest quality of care. His contributions have had a lasting impact on the field, and his work serves as a foundation for ongoing improvements in health care quality and value.
About This Award
The Pamela P. Bensen Trailblazer Award is presented to a current College member for seminal contributions over time to the growth of the College and to the specialty of emergency medicine. The award is named after Pamela P. Bensen, MD, a charter member of ACEP and the first woman resident in emergency medicine (1971).
