Prashant Mahajan, MD, MPH, MBA
William G Barsan Collegiate Professor
Chair
Department of Emergency Medicine
Professor of Emergency Medicine
Professor of Pediatrics
[email protected]

Available to mentor

Prashant Mahajan, MD, MPH, MBA
Professor
  • About
  • Qualifications
  • Center Memberships
  • Research Overview
  • Recent Publications
  • About

    Dr. Mahajan is certified in pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine. In addition, he has a Master's in Public Health (Health Administration and Policy) and a Master's in Business Administration. He is currently the Chair, Section of Emergency Medicine, for the American Academy of Pediatrics. His research interests are in infection/inflammation and in the area of clinician diagnostic decision making. He has been serially funded by NIH for the evaluation of the febrile infant with the use of novel RNA expression analysis using microarrays to define bacterial and non-bacterial biosignatures. He is involved in patient safety and quality and is funded by AHRQ on the study of diagnostic errors in the pediatric emergency setting.

    Qualifications
    • Diploma of National Boards
      National Board of Examinations, New Delhi, 1993
    • MB BS, Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery
      University of Bombay, Bombay, 1988
    Center Memberships
    • Center Member
      Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care
    • Center Member
      Precision Health Initiative
    • Center Member
      Eisenberg Family Depression Center
    • Center Member
      e-Health and Artificial Intelligence Initiative
    • Center Member
      Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation
    Research Overview

    My research has focused on enhancing decision making in austere circumstances such as emergency care delivery. To that end, I have co-led the first nationwide study of host immune response via transcriptomic analysis to distinguish bacterial vs. viral etiologies of fever in febrile infants in the first two months of life. I have helped develop highly precise and clinically meaningful prediction rules in the evaluation and management of young febrile infants. My second area of focus has been reduction of patient harm from the perspective of diagnostic quality in the context of emergency care. I have modified the National Academies framework on diagnostic safety for emergency care, for the first time, defined multiple electronic triggers for epidemiology and contributory factors of diagnostic errors, used artificial intelligence, including machine learning and natural language processing to investigate large datasets for diagnostic errors and finally developed the first protocol to perform ethnographic analysis of the process of diagnostic decision making in naturalistic settings. Finally, I use advanced technology such as mixed and augmented reality to enhance clinician decision making in real-time in remote settings. These endeavors have been industry funded and we have developed the first ambient intelligence module for pediatric resuscitation through the REACT Program (Research and Education in Acute Care using Advanced Technology).

    Recent Publications See All Publications
    • Journal Article
      Evaluating a Virtual Reality Game to Enhance Teen Distracted Driving Education: Mixed Methods Pilot Study.
      Peterson CM, Visclosky T, Flannagan CA, Mahajan P, Gabanyicz A, Bouchard J-J, Cervantes V, Gribbin W, Hashikawa AN. JMIR Form Res, 2024 Nov 26; 8: e60674 DOI:10.2196/60674
      PMID: 39591605
    • Journal Article
      Characterizing Acute Pulmonary Embolism Cases Diagnosed at an Emergency Department Revisit Using a Statewide Clinical Registry.
      Janke AT, Haimovich AD, Mangus CW, Fung C, Kamdar N, Mahajan PV, Kocher KE. Ann Emerg Med, 2024 Nov; 84 (5): 530 - 539. DOI:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2024.06.014
      PMID: 39033451
    • Journal Article
      Procalcitonin for safe reduction of unnecessary blood cultures in the emergency department: Development and validation of a prediction model.
      Kaal AG, Meziyerh S, van Burgel N, Dane M, Kolfschoten NE, Mahajan P, Julián-Jiménez A, Steyerberg EW, van Nieuwkoop C. J Infect, 2024 Oct; 89 (4): 106251 DOI:10.1016/j.jinf.2024.106251
      PMID: 39182652
    • Journal Article
      Is C-reactive protein sufficient to guide antimicrobial therapy for lower respiratory tract infections among children? Results from a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial in Uganda.
      Rees CA, Mahajan P, Bassat Q. PLoS Med, 2024 Sep; 21 (9): e1004467 DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1004467
      PMID: 39288196
    • Journal Article
      Leukopenia, neutropenia, and procalcitonin levels in young febrile infants with invasive bacterial infections.
      Krack AT, Eckerle M, Mahajan P, Ramilo O, VanBuren JM, Banks RK, Casper TC, Schnadower D, Kuppermann N, Febrile Infant Working Group of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) . Acad Emerg Med, 2024 Sep; 31 (9): 903 - 914. DOI:10.1111/acem.14921
      PMID: 38661246
    • Journal Article
      Frontline Providers' and Patients' Perspectives on Improving Diagnostic Safety in the Emergency Department: A Qualitative Study.
      Mangus CW, James TG, Parker SJ, Duffy E, Chandanabhumma PP, Cassady CM, Bellolio F, Pasupathy KS, Manojlovich M, Singh H, Mahajan P. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf, 2024 Jul; 50 (7): 480 - 491. DOI:10.1016/j.jcjq.2024.03.003
      PMID: 38643047
    • Preprint
      Designing Patient-Centered Interventions for Emergency Care: Participatory Design Study with Patients (Preprint)
      Seo W, Jain S, Le V, Li E, Zhang Z, Singh H, Pasupathy K, Mahajan P, Park SY. JMIR Preprints, DOI:10.2196/preprints.63610
    • Journal Article
      Analysis of guideline recommendations for treatment of asthma exacerbations in children: a Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN) study.
      Craig S, Collings M, Gray C, Benito J, Velasco R, Lyttle MD, Roland D, Schuh S, Shihabuddin B, Kwok M, Mahajan P, Johnson M, Zorc J, Khanna K, Fernandes R, Yock-Corrales A, Santhanam I, Cheema B, Ong GY-K, Jaiganesh T, Powell C, Nixon G, Dalziel S, Babl FE, Graudins A. Arch Dis Child, 2024 May 17; 109 (6): 468 - 475. DOI:10.1136/archdischild-2023-326739
      PMID: 38325912
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    Prashant Mahajan, M.D., MPH, MBA
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    Prashant Mahajan, M.D., MPH, MBA, named interim chair of Emergency Medicine
    The Board of Regents approved the appointment of Prashant Mahajan, M.D., MPH, MBA, as interim chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine in the Medical School, effective July 1, 2024