Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Delgado is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology with tenure at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the faculty director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit, the world’s first behavioral design team embedded within a health system. He is also an attending physician in the emergency department at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, an associate director at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, co-chair the Penn Medicine's Opioid Task Force, and co-director of Penn PORTAL (Patient-Oriented Research and Training to Accelerate Learning), one of 16 U.S. Centers of Excellence in learning health system science.

Dr. Delgado's research blends behavioral and data science with insights gleaned from practicing emergency medicine in an urban trauma center to guide patients and clinicians toward decisions that enhance personal safety and improve the quality of acute care. He is passionate about leading multidisciplinary teams to address pressing public health problems. His portfolio includes work to curb the opioid overdose crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, reduce trauma and firearm injuries, and decrease distracted and alcohol-impaired driving.

Consistent throughout Dr. Delgado's work is an effort to redesign choice environments to make the safe choice the easy and more attractive choice. To this end, he uses a broad set of methodological approaches, including user centered design methods, observational comparative effectiveness methods for analyzing hospital encounter data, and pragmatic randomized trials of digital behavioral interventions delivered via electronic health records, automated text messaging, and smartphone apps. He is a leader in learning health systems research. Many of the interventions his teams have developed and implemented have been scaled as the standard of care.

His achievements have been recognized with the Academy Health Publication-of-the-Year Award, the Society for Medical Decision Making Lee Lusted Prize for Outstanding Research, the Penn Medicine Marjorie A. Bowman New Investigator Research Award, and being named a Philadelphia Citizen Generation Change Fellow. Dr. Delgado is board certified in emergency medicine and addiction medicine. He received his bachelor's degree in public policy from Princeton University, his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, and his master's degree in health services research from Stanford University.

Selected Publications

Ebert, J., Xiong, R., Khan, N, Abdel-Rahman, D, Leitner, A, Fisher, W., Gaba, K., Everett, W, McDonald, C, Winston, F, Rosin, R, Volpp, K, Barnett, I, Small, D, Wiebe, D, Halpern, SD, Delgado, MK: A Randomized Trial of Behavioral Interventions Yielding Sustained Reductions in Distracted Driving Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences : 2024.

Kaufman EJ, Song J, Xiong R, Seamon M, Delgado MK: Fatal and Nonfatal Firearm Injury Rates by Race and Ethnicity in the United States, 2019 to 2020. Annals of Internal Medicine : 2024.

Delgado MK, Ebert JO, Xiong RA, Winston FK, McDonald, CM, Rosin RM, Volpp KG, Barnett, IJ, Small, DS, Wiebe DJ, Abdel-Rahman, D, Hemmons, JE, Finefold R, Kotrc, B, Radford E, Fisher WJ, Gaba KL, Everett WC, Halpern SD.: Feedback and Financial Incentives for Reducing Cellphone Use While Driving: A Randomized Trial JAMA Network Open : 2024.

Thakrar AP, Lowenstein M, Greysen SR, Delgado MK: Trends in Before Medically Advised Discharges for Patients With Opioid Use Disorder, 2016-2020 JAMA 330 (23): 2302–2304,2023.

Lowenstein M, Perrone J, McFadden R, Xiong RA, Meisel ZF, O’Donnell N, Abdel-Rahman D, Moon J, Mitra N, Delgado MK: Impact of Universal Screening and Automated Clinical Decision Support for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in Emergency Departments: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis Annals of Emergency Medicine : 2023.

Lee KC, Morgan AU, Chaiyachati KH, Asch DA, Xiong RA, Do D, Kilaru AS, Lam D, Parambath A, Friedman AB, Meisel ZF, Snider CK, Chisholm DL, Kelly S, Hemmons JE, Abdel-Rahman D, Ebert J, Ghosh M, Reilly J, O'Malley CJ, Hahn L, Mannion NM, Huffenberger AM, McGinley S, Balachandran M, Khan N, Shea JA, Mitra N, Delgado MK: Pulse Oximetry for Monitoring Patients with Covid-19 at Home - A Pragmatic, Randomized Trial New England Journal of Medicine 386 (19): 1857-1859,2022.

Delgado MK, Morgan AU, Asch DA, Xiong R, Kilaru AS, Lee KC, Do D, Friedman AB, Meisel ZF, Snider CK, Lam D, Parambath A, Wood C, Wilson CM, Perez M, Chisholm DL, Kelly S, O'Malley CJ, Mannion N, Huffenberger AM, McGinley S, Balachandran M, Khan N, Mitra N, Chaiyachati KH: Comparative Effectiveness of an Automated Text Messaging Service for Monitoring COVID-19 at Home Annals of Internal Medicine 175 (2): 179-190,2022.

Agarwal AK, Lee D, Ali Z, Wu Y, Cognilio M, Uritsky T, Delgado MK: Effect of Mailing an At-home Disposal Kit on Unused Opioid Disposal After Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial JAMA Network Open 5 (5): 2022.

Kilaru AS, Xiong A, Lowenstein M, Meisel ZF, Perrone J, Khatri U, Mitra N, Delgado MK: Incidence of Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Following Nonfatal Overdose in Commercially Insured Patients JAMA Network Open 3 (5): 2020.

Delgado MK, Shofer FS, Patel MS, Halpern SD, Edwards C, Meisel ZF, Perrone J: Association Between Electronic Medical Record Implementation of Default Opioid Prescription Quantities on Prescribing Behavior in Two Emergency Departments Journal of General Internal Medicine 33 (4): 409-411,2018.

Academic Contact Information

Center for Health Care Transformation and Innovation
3600 Civic Center Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19104