Robert El-Kareh, MD, MPH

Robert El-Kareh, MD, MPH, is a board-certified internal medicine physician who specializes in caring for hospitalized patients. As a hospitalist, Dr. El-Kareh is assigned to patients at the time of admission and provides care only during their hospital stay. He does not see patients at outpatient clinics and is not available for appointments. Upon a patient's discharge, Dr. El-Kareh communicates with their regular physician to ensure quality care.

As associate chief medical officer of Transformational Health and Learning, he works closely with the hospital medical and program director community to support and sustain quality improvement approaches to problem-solving and goal achievement through the integration of lean process improvement and the Daily Engagement Systems (DES).

As an associate professor in the Department of Medicine, he instructs medical students, residents, and fellows at UC San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. El-Kareh has a joint appointment between the divisions of Biomedical Informatics and Hospital Medicine. He conducts research in clinical informatics and quality improvement, focusing on the use of health information technology to improve the accuracy, speed, and efficiency of the diagnostic process as well as improving medication reconciliation, communication and test result management.

He completed a research fellowship in biomedical informatics at Harvard University and also earned an MPH at Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. El-Kareh completed his residency in internal medicine at Alpert Medical School, Brown University, where he served for a fourth year as chief resident. Dr. El-Kareh earned his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine. He is board certified in internal medicine.