SAEM’s Excellence in Research Award recognizes Dr. Shah’s pioneering work to improve emergency care for older adults
Manish N. Shah, MD, MPH, professor and chair of the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, has received the 2026 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Excellence in Research Award, one of academic emergency medicine’s foremost national honors for research achievement.
SAEM, the primary professional society for academic emergency medicine, selects honorees based on the breadth and impact of their career, including research accomplishments, grant support, publications, scientific influence, mentorship and national or international recognition.
The award acknowledges Shah’s sustained, field-shaping contributions to emergency medicine research, including his work to improve the quality, safety and outcomes of emergency care for older adults, particularly people living with dementia.
In the United States, older adults make more than 20 million visits to the emergency department, or ED, each year. People living with dementia use emergency care at even higher rates. Yet, according to Shah, emergency care systems are often not designed around the complex needs of these patients and their care partners — particularly after discharge, when they often must manage medications, follow-up care, new symptoms and uncertainty at home.
Shah’s research has helped define geriatric emergency care and community paramedicine as growing areas of research, building evidence for care models that connect the ED with emergency medical services, public health and community-based support for older adults after an acute health event.
He has carried that work into major National Institute on Aging-funded initiatives.
The Geriatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network 2.0 – Advancing Dementia Care, or GEAR 2.0-ADC, brings together researchers, clinicians, patients and care partners to identify national research priorities and fund studies aimed at improving emergency care for people living with dementia.
Emergency Departments LEading the Transformation of Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care, or ED-LEAD, is a pragmatic clinical trial embedded within 79 emergency departments across the U.S. The trial is evaluating three interventions, alone and in combination, with outcomes including ED revisits, hospitalizations and healthy days at home. Shah is leading the community paramedic-delivered care transitions intervention, which builds on his long-standing work at the intersection of EMS, aging and public health aimed at preventing future hospital visits.
In a recent SAEM National Grand Rounds presentation, Shah described research as a catalyst for change — a way to generate evidence and move it into operations, policy and practice. That focus on real-world impact has also shaped his commitment to mentorship and team building.
Shah has trained and supported many students, residents, fellows and faculty, including investigators pursuing career development awards. He previously led the National Institutes of Health-funded KL2 Scholars Program at UW–Madison, and many of his mentees have gone on to become successful academicians and leaders in emergency medicine and other fields.
As chair, Shah has strengthened the UW’s national research presence in academic emergency medicine, expanding the department’s visibility, funding and impact over the last decade. Under his leadership, the department has fostered a collaborative research culture focused on practical work that connects emergency care, health systems innovation and efforts to close gaps in health care access and delivery.
Shah is a past recipient of the Paul B. Beeson Career Development Award in Aging Research and three premier honors from SAEM’s Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine: the Gerson-Sanders Award for Contributions to Geriatric Emergency Medicine, the Academic Career Achievement Award and the Pioneer Award. He has also previously served as president of the SAEM Foundation, which supports investigators in building the early evidence and training needed to compete for larger external grants.
Shah earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and his medical degree from the University of Rochester. He completed emergency medicine residency training at The Ohio State University and later earned a master of public health in clinical investigation from the University of Rochester, where he was on the faculty before joining UW–Madison in 2015 as vice chair of research.
Shah’s recognition by SAEM reflects both his individual record of scholarship and the practical aim of his work and leadership: turning research into systems of care that connect emergency response with prevention, follow-up and support for patients whose needs extended beyond the ED.
Noted research projects are funded by the National Institute on Aging grant numbers R61AG069822 and U19AG078105, respectively. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.