Description of Research Expertise

Dr. Delgado is a tenure track Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania. His research blends behavioral and data sciences with insights gleaned through practicing emergency medicine in an urban trauma center to guide patients and clinicians toward decisions that are personally safer or improve the quality of acute care. Dr. Delgado has a passion for leading multidisciplinary teams to address pressing public health problems. His work has addressed the opioid crisis, Covid-19, trauma and firearm injuries, and distracted and alcohol-impaired driving. These crises are not only among the current leading causes of total life-years lost in America, but the sources of considerable health inequities. His vision is to redesign choice environments to make the safer choice the easier and more attractive choice. To this end he uses a broad set of methodological approaches including implementation science methods for stakeholder engagement, 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 launched the Behavioral Science & Analytics For Injury Reduction (BeSAFIR) lab, establishing a novel, cross-disciplinary research program in risky behavior prevention, injury epidemiology, and health services research. In 2021, he was appointed as an Associate Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE), and in 2022, the Director of the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit, the world’s first behavioral design team embedded within a health system. He also serves as Co-Chair of the University Pennsylvania Health System Opioid Task Force and has been appointed to two National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) study committees: one to address alcohol impaired driving and one to address opioid prescribing guidelines.

He has published over 100 peer review publications to date and has been awarded over $16 million in extramural research funding. His achievements have been recognized with the Marjorie A. Bowman New Investigator Research Award and the Academy Health Publication-of-the-Year Award. He received his bachelor’s degree in public policy from Princeton University, his M.D. from Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, and his M.S. in Health Services Research from Stanford University.

Selected Publications

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.

Lowenstein M, McFadden R, Abdel-Rahman D, Perrone J, Meisel ZF, O’Donnell N, Wood C, Solomon G, Beidas R, Delgado MK: Redesign of Opioid Use Disorder Screening and Treatment in the ED NEJM Catalyst: Innovations in Care Delivery 3 (1): 2021.

Lowenstein M, Perrone J, Xiong RA, Snider CK, O’Donnell N, Hermann D, Rosin R, Dees J, McFadden R, Khatri U, Meisel ZF, Mitra N, Delgado MK: Sustained Implementation of a Multicomponent Strategy to Increase Emergency Department-Initiated Interventions for Opioid Use Disorder Annals of Emergency Medicine 79 (3): 237-248,2022.

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.

Delgado MK, Shofer F, Wetherill R, Curtis B, Hemmons J, Spencer E, Branas C, Wiebe DJ, Kranzler HR.: Accuracy of Consumer‐Marketed Smartphone‐Paired Alcohol Breath Testing Devices: A Laboratory Validation Study. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 45 (5): 1091-1099,2021.

Agarwal AK, Lee D, Ali Z, Sennett B, Xiong R, Hemmons J, Spencer E, Abdel-Rahman D, Kleinman R, Lacko H, Horan A, Dooley M, Hume E, Mehta S, Delgado MK.: Patient-Reported Opioid Consumption and Pain Intensity After Common Orthopedic and Urologic Surgical Procedures With Use of an Automated Text Messaging System. JAMA Network Open 4 (3): e213243-e213243,2021.

Kaufman, EJ, Wiebe, DJ, Xiong, RA, Morrison, CN, Seamon, MJ, Delgado, MK: Epidemiologic Trends in Fatal and Nonfatal Firearm Injuries in the US, 2009-2017 JAMA Internal Medicine 181 (2): 2021.

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.

Lowenstein M, Hossain E, Yang W, Grande D, Perrone J, Neuman MD, Ashburn M, Delgado MK: Impact of a State Opioid Prescribing Limit and Electronic Medical Record Alert on Opioid Prescriptions: a Difference-in-Differences Analysis Journal of General Internal Medicine 35 (3): 662-671,2020.

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

Department of Emergency Medicine
933 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: 215-746-8256