VP, Ctr for Quality & Safety Center for Quality and Safety, Massachusetts General Hospital

Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School

Senior Surgeon Cardiac Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD Harvard Medical School 1973

cardiac risk models; cardiac surgical procedures; coronary artery bypass; models statistical; national practitioner data bank; quality assurance health care; quality indicators health care; societies medical; surgeon performance; surgery outcomes; surgery reporting; tavr 2.0; thoracic surgery

David M. Shahian, MD, is Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and a Senior Surgeon in the MGH Department of Surgery and Division of Cardiac Surgery. 

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Shahian served for nearly two decades as Chair of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at the Lahey Clinic, where he served terms as President of the Medical Staff and member of the Board of Governors. He was the inaugural Chair of the Massachusetts Cardiac Care Quality Commission, and served terms as the Vice-President and President of the Massachusetts Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

Nationally, Dr. Shahian has served as Chair of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Workforce on National Databases, the STS Workforce on Quality, and the STS Quality Measurement Task Force, in which capacities he has led the development of the numerous cardiothoracic risk models and 35 NQF-endorsed composite performance measures.

Dr. Shahian was a leader in the implementation of the mandatory cardiac surgery public reporting initiative in Massachusetts and the voluntary, nationwide public reporting program established by the STS. 

Dr. Shahian is the author or co-author of more than 340 peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous book chapters in cardiac surgery and performance measurement. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Quality Forum and the Board of the PCPI, and he was the founding Chair of the National Quality Registry Network. He has also served as a Deputy Editor of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.