Hemal Kanzaria, MD
Professor
Emergency Medicine
School of Medicine

His work focuses on aligning strategic planning and deployment across ZSFG; enabling staff through improvement science education and coaching—including formal classroom instruction, at-the-elbow operational support, and a fellowship program for mid-career physician and managers; advancing the integration of metrics, analytics, and data across the organization; guiding the strategic direction of the Prospect Lab (https://zsfg-prospect.github.io/index.html), which applies data science and advanced analytics to complex system challenges; and driving measurable improvements in care delivery for both patients and colleagues.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Kanzaria served as Director of Complex Care Analytics for the San Francisco Health Network (2015–2019) and as Medical Director / Associate Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Care Coordination at ZSFG (2019–2023). In these roles, he helped expand and operationalize a novel multi-agency integrated data system to better understand patients’ medical and non-medical needs; implemented the Emergency Department information exchange across the San Francisco Department of Public Health; co-founded and co-developed an innovative, multidisciplinary Social Medicine team to address health-related social needs; and led numerous care coordination efforts using Lean improvement principles to advance safe, efficient, and equitable care.

Dr. Kanzaria is a health services researcher, a decision editor for Annals of Emergency Medicine, and an Associate Director at the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, where he co-leads the research hub COORDINATE HOME—CrOss-sectOR Data INtegrAtion To End HOMElessness. He is also core faculty in the UCSF Action Research Center (ARC) for Health and affiliated faculty at the UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies, the California Policy Lab, and the Public Policy Institute of California. His research focuses on patient engagement, health-related social needs, homelessness, frequent users of the healthcare system, improvement science, and delivery system transformation. He has published extensively on these topics, and his work has been featured widely in the media.

Dr. Kanzaria is the founding Co-Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine Section of Social Emergency Medicine and Health Equity and serves on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation.

A graduate of Brown University, UCSF School of Medicine, and the UCLA School of Public Health, Dr. Kanzaria completed his emergency medicine residency at UCSF/ZSFG. He is an alumnus of both the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and the California Health Care Foundation Leadership Program. Dr. Kanzaria is a practicing emergency physician at UCSF/ZSFG and lives in San Francisco with his wife, their two daughters, and rescue dog.

• Homelessness Following Jail Exit Among Previously Housed Individuals.
  Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 2025 Ager EE, Hewlett MM, Augustine D, Perry E, Kanzaria HK, Perez K, Izenberg J, Raven MC
• Preparing for the Next Pandemic: Designing Resilient Information-Sharing Systems in Acute Care.
  Annals of emergency medicine 2025 Bains JK, Stark N, Dhanoa J, Hayirli T, Vu M, Kerrissey M, Kanzaria H, Peabody C
• Is Gaining Housing Associated With Higher Rates of Cancer Screening Among US Veterans Experiencing Homelessness?
  Annals of family medicine 2025 Decker H, Graham L, Titan A, Kanzaria H, Hawn M, Wick E, Tsai J, Kushel M
• Timeliness of injury care and housing status.
  Injury 2025 Decker H, Evans J, Squire DG, Colom S, Perez K, Raven M, Plevin R, Kanzaria HK, Stey A
• Housing Status and Longitudinal Care Patterns After Injury.
  Annals of emergency medicine 2025 Decker H, Evans J, Squire DG, Colom S, Perez K, Raven M, Plevin R, Kanzaria HK, Stey A
• Housing Status and Cancer Screening in US Veterans.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2025 Decker H, Graham L, Titan A, Hawn M, Kushel M, Kanzaria HK, Wick E
• Admission and Patients Undergoing Surgery at Risk of Patient-Directed Discharges.
  JAMA surgery 2024 Decker HC, Shui A, Kanzaria HK, Pierce L, Wick E
• Playbook for Complex Discharges & Patient Vignettes
  Playbook for Complex Discharges & Patient Vignettes 2024 Kerry Landry, Devora Keller, Hemal Kanzaria, Bradley Gilbert
• Quality improvement in the era of boarding and burnout: A postpandemic blueprint.
  Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open 2024 Schwartz H, Huen W, Kanzaria HK, Peabody CR
• Association of Homelessness with Before Medically Advised Discharge After Surgery.
  Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety 2024 Decker HC, Silver CM, Graham-Squire D, Pierce L, Kanzaria HK, Wick EC
• Morbidity and Length of Stay After Injury Among People Experiencing Homelessness in North America.
  JAMA network open 2024 Silver CM, Thomas AC, Reddy S, Kirkendoll S, Nathens AB, Issa N, Patel PP, Plevin RE, Kanzaria HK, Stey AM
• ASO Visual Abstract: Access, Outcomes, and Costs Associated with Surgery for Malignancy Among People Experiencing Homelessness.
  Annals of surgical oncology 2024 Silver CM, Janczewski LM, Royan R, Chung JW, Bentrem DJ, Kanzaria HK, Stey AM, Bilimoria KY, Merkow RP
• Provider perceptions of challenges and facilitators to surgical care in unhoused patients: A qualitative analysis.
  Surgery 2023 Decker H, Raguram M, Kanzaria HK, Duke M, Wick E
• Access, Outcomes, and Costs Associated with Surgery for Malignancy Among People Experiencing Homelessness.
  Annals of surgical oncology 2023 Silver CM, Janczewski LM, Royan R, Chung JW, Bentrem DJ, Kanzaria HK, Stey AM, Bilimoria KY, Merkow RP
• Housing Status, Cancer Care, and Associated Outcomes Among US Veterans.
  JAMA network open 2023 Decker HC, Graham LA, Titan A, Kanzaria HK, Hawn MT, Kushel M, Wick E
• 109 Understanding the Relationship Between Experiences With Healthcare Discrimination and Emergency Healthcare Delay Among Intersex Adults.
  Annals of Emergency Medicine 2023 J. Wang, H. Kanzaria, K. Dalke, R. Nachnani, J. Flatt
• Caring for the Homeless.
  Urban Emergency Medicine 2023 Maria Raven, Hemal Kanzaria, Jaskaran (Karan) Bains
• Injury Patterns and Hospital Admission After Trauma Among People Experiencing Homelessness.
  JAMA network open 2023 Silver CM, Thomas AC, Reddy S, Sullivan GA, Plevin RE, Kanzaria HK, Stey AM
• Association of Housing Status With Types of Operations and Postoperative Health Care Utilization.
  Annals of surgery 2023 Decker HC, Kanzaria HK, Evans J, Pierce L, Wick EC
• 766 San Francisco Residents may be Eligible for Referral to CARE Court. California Policy Lab and UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative Policy Brief
  2023 Raven M, Evans J, Augustine D, Dewilde K, Henderson J, Kanzaria H, Pailillo S, Perez K, Pratt L, Skog A, Lacoe J.
• Hospital variability in adoption of alcohol and drug screening in adult trauma patients.
  The journal of trauma and acute care surgery 2023 Silver CM, Visenio MR, Thomas AC, Reddy S, Raven MC, Kanzaria HK, Plevin RE, Stey AM
• Characterizing patients hospitalized without an acute care indication: A retrospective cohort study.
  Journal of hospital medicine 2023 Rosenthal MA, Ranji SR, Kanzaria HK, Ortiz GM, Chase J, Chodos AH, Nguyen OK, Rodriguez EG, Makam AN
• Cluster Analysis of the Highest Users of Medical, Behavioral Health, and Social Services in San Francisco.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2022 Hewlett MM, Raven MC, Graham-Squire D, Evans JL, Cawley C, Kushel M, Kanzaria HK
• Perspectives of COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant emergency department patients to inform messaging platforms to promote vaccine uptake.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2022 Gentsch AT, Butler J, O'Laughlin K, Eucker SA, Chang A, Duber H, Geyer RE, Guth A, Kanzaria HK, Pauley A, Rising KL, Chavez CL, Tupetz A, Rodriguez RM
• When the Homeless Are Hurt: National Patterns and Outcomes of Physical Trauma in Undomiciled Adults.
  Journal of the American College of Surgeons 2022 Casey M Silver, Arielle C Thomas, Susheel Reddy, Rebecca E Plevin, Hemal K Kanzaria, Anne M Stey
• Analysis of Emergency Department Encounters Among High Users of Health Care and Social Service Systems Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  JAMA network open 2022 Molina M, Evans J, Montoy JC, Cawley C, Graham-Squire D, Perez K, Raven M, Kanzaria HK
• 202 Drug-Related Arrests Among Frequent Emergency Department Users are Compounded by Housing Status.
  Annals of Emergency Medicine 2022 V. Eswaran, M. Olson, J. Lacoe, S. Paolillo, A. Skog, H. Kanzaria, M. Raven
• Signals of Distress: High Utilization of Criminal Legal and Urgent and Emergent Health Services in San Francisco. California Policy Lab and UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative Policy Brief
  2022 Cawley C, Henderson J, Kanzaria HK, Lacoe J, Paolillo S, Perez K, Raven MC, Skog A
• How Hospital Discharge Data Can Inform State Homelessness Policy
  Public Policy Institute of California Research Report 2022 McConville S, Kanzaria HK, Hsia RY, Raven MC, Kushel K
• Association of Shelter-in-Place Hotels With Health Services Use Among People Experiencing Homelessness During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  JAMA network open 2022 Fleming MD, Evans JL, Graham-Squire D, Cawley C, Kanzaria HK, Kushel MB, Raven MC
• PROmotion of COvid-19 VA(X)ccination in the Emergency Department-PROCOVAXED: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.
  Trials 2022 Rodriguez RM, O'Laughlin K, Eucker SA, Chang AM, Rising KL, Nichol G, Pauley A, Kanzaria H, Gentsch AT, Li C, Duber H, Butler J, Eswaran V, Glidden D
• PROmotion of COvid-19 VA(X)ccination in the Emergency Department - PROCOVAXED: Study Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.
  Research square 2022 Rodriguez R, O'Laughlin K, Eucker S, Chang AM, Rising K, Nichol G, Pauley A, Kanzaria H, Gentsch A, Li C, Duber H, Butler J, Eswaran V, Glidden D
• Understanding the association between frequent emergency department use and jail incarceration: A cross-sectional analysis.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2022 Eswaran V, Raven MC, Wang RC, Cawley C, Izenberg JM, Kanzaria HK
• Frequent Emergency Department Use: A Social Emergency Medicine Perspective.
  2021 Maria C. Raven, Hemal K. Kanzaria
• Patient reported delays in obtaining emergency care during COVID19.
  The American journal of emergency medicine 2021 Eswaran V, Wang RC, Vashi AA, Kanzaria HK, Fahimi J, Raven MC
• Emergency Department Length of Stay and Mortality in Critically Injured Patients.
  Journal of intensive care medicine 2021 Stey AM, Kanzaria HK, Dudley RA, Bilimoria KY, Knudson MM, Callcut RA
• The Termination of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) Protections and Medical Education in the U.S.
  Journal of immigrant and minority health 2020 Talamantes E, Bribiesca Y, Rangel-Alvarez B, Viramontes O, Zhou M, Kanzaria H, Kuczewski MG, Moreno G
• Introduction.
  Annals of emergency medicine 2019 Kanzaria HK, Hoffman JR
• Collecting Unused Medical Supplies in Emergency Departments for Responsible Redistribution.
  The Journal of emergency medicine 2019 Muldoon LB, Chan WW, Sabbagh SH, Rodriguez RM, Kanzaria HK
• Reducing Emergency Department Length of Stay.
  JAMA 2019 Mercer MP, Singh MK, Kanzaria HK
• Computed Tomography Use Plateaus Among Children With Emergency Visits for Abdominal Pain.
  Pediatric emergency care 2019 Fahimi J, Kornblith AE, Kanzaria H, Herring A, Wang RC
• Potential Effect of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act on Use of Advanced Diagnostic Imaging in the Emergency Department: An Analysis of the National Hospital Ambulatory Care Survey.
  Radiology 2019 Fahimi J, Kanzaria HK, Mongan J, Kahn KL, Wang RC
• 1787.
  Critical Care Medicine 2019 Anne Stey, Tasce Bongiovanni, Hemal Kanzaria, Rachael Callcut
• Past Frequent Emergency Department Use Predicts Mortality.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2019 Niedzwiecki MJ, Kanzaria HK, Montoy JC, Hsia RY, Raven MC
• Factors Associated With Emergency Department Use by Patients With and Without Mental Health Diagnoses.
  JAMA network open 2018 Niedzwiecki MJ, Sharma PJ, Kanzaria HK, McConville S, Hsia RY
• How Disruptive Innovation by Business and Technology Firms Could Improve Population Health.
  JAMA 2018 Stey A, Kanzaria H, Brook R
• Patient Preferences Regarding Shared Decision Making in the Emergency Department: Findings From a Multisite Survey.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2018 Schoenfeld EM, Kanzaria HK, Quigley DD, Marie PS, Nayyar N, Sabbagh SH, Gress KL, Probst MA
• Acute Myocardial Infarction after Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Infection.
  The New England journal of medicine 2018 Waxman DA, Kanzaria HK, Schriger DL
• Unrecognized Cardiovascular Emergencies Among Medicare Patients.
  JAMA internal medicine 2018 Waxman DA, Kanzaria HK, Schriger DL
• Emergency Psychiatric Care: The Authors Reply.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2018 Raven MC, Hsia RY, Kanzaria HK
• Understanding Waste in Health Care: Perceptions of Frontline Physicians Regarding Time Use and Appropriateness of Care They and Others Provide.
  The Permanente journal 2018 Caloyeras JP, Kanter MH, Ives NR, Kim CY, Kanzaria HK, Berry SH, Brook RH
• 363 Patient Perceptions of Shared Decisionmaking in the Emergency Department: A Multi-Center Survey Study.
  Annals of Emergency Medicine 2017 E.M. Schoenfeld, H.K. Kanzaria, D.D. Quigley, N. Nayyar, S.H. Sabbagh, M.A. Probst
• Health Systems Science, Susan E. Skochelak, Richard E. Hawkins; AMA Education Consortium, editors. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier, 2017; 228 pp + glossary + index; $53.99 (softcover).
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2017 Huang D, Kanzaria HK
• Five High-Cost Patient Groups.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2017 Kanzaria HK, Hoffman JR
• Predictors for under-prescribing antibiotics in children with respiratory infections requiring antibiotics.
  The American journal of emergency medicine 2017 Kornblith AE, Fahimi J, Kanzaria HK, Wang RC
• Should US doctors embrace electronic health records?
  BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2017 Gellert G, Webster L, Gillean J, Melnick E, Kanzaria H
• Hot-Spotters Aren't "The Problem"...But They Are Emblematic of the Failure of U.S. Healthcare.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2017 Kanzaria HK, Hoffman JR
• Dissemination and Implementation of Shared Decision Making Into Clinical Practice: A Research Agenda.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2016 Kanzaria HK, Booker-Vaughns J, Itakura K, Yadav K, Kane BG, Gayer C, Lin G, LeBlanc A, Gibson R, Chen EH, Williams P, Carpenter CR
• The Role of Education in the Implementation of Shared Decision Making in Emergency Medicine: A Research Agenda.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2016 Chen EH, Kanzaria HK, Itakura K, Booker-Vaughns J, Yadav K, Kane BG
• Emergency Department Death Rates: The Authors Reply.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2016 Kanzaria HK, Hsia RY, Probst MA
• Emergency Department Death Rates Dropped By Nearly 50 Percent, 1997-2011.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2016 Kanzaria HK, Probst MA, Hsia RY
• Physician Professional Satisfaction and Area of Clinical Practice: Evidence from an Integrated Health Care Delivery System.
  The Permanente journal 2016 Caloyeras JP, Kanter M, Ives N, Kim CY, Kanzaria HK, Berry SH, Brook RH
• Perceived Appropriateness of Shared Decision-making in the Emergency Department: A Survey Study.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2016 Probst MA, Kanzaria HK, Frosch DL, Hess EP, Winkel G, Ngai KM, Richardson LD
• Physician spending and risk of malpractice claims: defensive medicine may not be as common as we think.
  BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2015 Waxman DA, Kanzaria HK
• Advancing Patient-centered Outcomes in Emergency Diagnostic Imaging: A Research Agenda.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2015 Kanzaria HK, McCabe AM, Meisel ZM, LeBlanc A, Schaffer JT, Bellolio MF, Vaughan W, Merck LH, Applegate KE, Hollander JE, Grudzen CR, Mills AM, Carpenter CR, Hess EP
• Emergency Department Diagnostic Imaging: The Journey to Quality.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2015 Kanzaria HK, Hall MK, Moore CL, Burstin H
• Improving Health Care for the Future Uninsured in Los Angeles County: A Community-Partnered Dialogue.
  Ethnicity & disease 2015 Iyer SP, Jones A, Talamantes E, Barnert ES, Kanzaria HK, Detz A, Daskivich TJ, Jones L, Ryan GW, Mahajan AP
• In Reply... Credat Emptor.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2015 Kanzaria HK, Probst MA, Hoffman JR
• Emergency Physicians' Perceptions and Decision-making Processes Regarding Patients Presenting with Palpitations.
  The Journal of emergency medicine 2015 Probst MA, Kanzaria HK, Hoffman JR, Mower WR, Moheimani RS, Sun BC, Quigley DD
• National trends in resource utilization associated with ED visits for syncope.
  The American journal of emergency medicine 2015 Probst MA, Kanzaria HK, Gbedemah M, Richardson LD, Sun BC
• Emergency physician perceptions of medically unnecessary advanced diagnostic imaging.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2015 Kanzaria HK, Hoffman JR, Probst MA, Caloyeras JP, Berry SH, Brook RH
• Emergency physician perceptions of shared decision-making.
  Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2015 Kanzaria HK, Brook RH, Probst MA, Harris D, Berry SH, Hoffman JR
• Quality measures based on presenting signs and symptoms of patients.
  JAMA 2015 Kanzaria HK, Mattke S, Detz AA, Brook RH
• Intolerance of error and culture of blame drive medical excess.
  BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2014 Hoffman JR, Kanzaria HK
• The association between advanced diagnostic imaging and ED length of stay.
  The American journal of emergency medicine 2014 Kanzaria HK, Probst MA, Ponce NA, Hsia RY
• Analysis of emergency department visits for palpitations (from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey).
  The American journal of cardiology 2014 Probst MA, Mower WR, Kanzaria HK, Hoffman JR, Buch EF, Sun BC
• Staff perceptions of an on-site clinical pharmacist program in an academic emergency department after one year.
  The western journal of emergency medicine 2014 Coralic Z, Kanzaria HK, Bero L, Stein J
• A conceptual model of emergency physician decision making for head computed tomography in mild head injury.
  The American journal of emergency medicine 2014 Probst MA, Kanzaria HK, Schriger DL
• The silent physician.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2013 Kanzaria HK, Brook RH
• Infectious complication of Blunt head injury.
  Emergency medicine journal : EMJ 2013 Kanzaria HK, Detz A
• Levamisole contaminated cocaine induced cutaneous vasculitis syndrome.
  The western journal of emergency medicine 2013 James KT, Detz A, Coralic Z, Kanzaria H
• Cardiac tamponade.
  The western journal of emergency medicine 2013 Wilson JG, Epstein SM, Wang R, Kanzaria HK
• A 120-hour case of priapism from an over-the-counter herbal supplement.
  The Annals of pharmacotherapy 2013 Coralic Z, Lenhoff T, Kanzaria HK, Gerona R
• Adie's Tonic Pupil.
  The western journal of emergency medicine 2012 Kanzaria HK, Farzan N, Coralic Z
• Is emergency department closure resulting in increased distance to the nearest emergency department associated with increased inpatient mortality?
  Annals of emergency medicine 2012 Hsia RY, Kanzaria HK, Srebotnjak T, Maselli J, McCulloch C, Auerbach AD
• System-level health disparities in California emergency departments: minorities and Medicaid patients are at higher risk of losing their emergency departments.
  Annals of emergency medicine 2011 Hsia RY, Srebotnjak T, Kanzaria HK, McCulloch C, Auerbach AD
• Remedy at UCSF: a sustainable student-run initiative.
  Lancet (London, England) 2009 Kanzaria HK, Fischette S, Jain S
• Malaria treatment-seeking behaviour and recovery from malaria in a highland area of Kenya.
  Malaria journal 2008 Sumba PO, Wong SL, Kanzaria HK, Johnson KA, John CC
• A severe sore throat in a middle-aged man: calcific tendonitis of the longus colli tendon.
  The Journal of emergency medicine 2008 Kanzaria H, Stein JC
• Schistosomiasis and pregnancy.
  Trends in parasitology 2007 Friedman JF, Mital P, Kanzaria HK, Olds GR, Kurtis JD
• IMPROVING EPIDEMIOLOGIC SURVEILLANCE OF HIV/AIDS IN PATIENTS AT HOSPICIO SAN JOSE, GUATEMALA.: 262.
  Journal of Investigative Medicine 2007 A. Detz, L. C. Castellanos, H. Kanzaria
• Human schistosomiasis and anemia: the relationship and potential mechanisms.
  Trends in parasitology 2005 Friedman JF, Kanzaria HK, McGarvey ST
• Nutritional status and serum cytokine profiles in children, adolescents, and young adults with Schistosoma japonicum-associated hepatic fibrosis, in Leyte, Philippines.
  The Journal of infectious diseases 2005 Coutinho HM, McGarvey ST, Acosta LP, Manalo DL, Langdon GC, Leenstra T, Kanzaria HK, Solomon J, Wu H, Olveda RM, Kurtis JD, Friedman JF
• Relationship between Schistosoma japonicum and nutritional status among children and young adults in Leyte, the Philippines.
  The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 2005 Friedman JF, Kanzaria HK, Acosta LP, Langdon GC, Manalo DL, Wu H, Olveda RM, McGarvey ST, Kurtis JD
• Schistosoma japonicum and occult blood loss in endemic villages in Leyte, the Philippines.
  The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 2005 Kanzaria HK, Acosta LP, Langdon GC, Manalo DL, Olveda RM, McGarvey ST, Kurtis JD, Friedman JF