Aalap Shah MD, FASA

Dr. Aalap C. Shah, MD is a board-certified anesthesiologist, specializing in general adult and pediatric anesthesiology. He attended medical school at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, thereafter completing a general anesthesiology residency at the University of Washington and fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School and obtaining certification in Lean and Six Sigma methodology. Prior to UCI, Dr. Shah provided clinical anesthesia and independent consulting services for local hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), and dental offices, as well as administrative services to community hospitals and medical spas in Los Angeles.

Dr. Shah is passionate about introducing process improvement strategies in the perioperative healthcare arena, in the pursuit of simultaneously improving physician autonomy while achieving the best possible post-operative outcomes for his patients. He has published in peer-reviewed journals on topics including nerve injury, perioperative compliance measures and communication tools, and institution-level quality improvement initiatives. He also contributes op-ed pieces and has appeared on several podcasts and physician media outlets including KevinMD. He is a recipient of the ACGME David Leach Award for his leadership with a multidisciplinary team in improving communication between teams after surgery.

At UCI, Dr. Shah is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. He is the Informatics Director and is involved in several projects related to conservation and sustainability, quality improvement reporting, and clinical decision-support tools. Dr. Shah’s current research interests focus on “minimally invasive” therapies, including the study of music as a therapeutic modality as well as nanoanesthesia.