Seattle, WA (Jan. 18, 2019): Dr. Raghu “Rags” Durvasula has been named associate chief medical officer of not-for-profit dialysis provider Northwest Kidney Centers.
“Dr. Durvasula is well prepared to assume this leadership role,” said chief medical officer Dr. Suzanne Watnick. “We are delighted that he will serve in this capacity.”
Originally from Canada, he received a medical degree from McGill University before pursuing residency training and chief residency at Beth Israel Hospital through the Harvard University system. He subsequently completed a nephrology fellowship and Master of Health Administration degree at the University of Washington.
He is currently an associate professor of medicine and an adjunct associate professor in the department of health services at the University of Washington, working in clinical care, research and medical education. In addition, he teaches health care quality and safety to graduate students in the UW School of Public Health. Beyond his clinical experience as a staff nephrologist, he brings a strong administrative background as medical director of inpatient dialysis and associate medical director of clinical operations and efficiency at the University of Washington Medical Center.
His duties at Northwest Kidney Centers will include serving as Medical Director to hospital services, providing medical oversight of safety initiatives including emergency preparedness and performance improvement endeavors, providing leadership around care model initiatives and electronic medical record adoption, and being lead contact for local external health care relationships.
He will start part-time by mid-March and transition to full-time duties in June.
Northwest Kidney Centers is a regional, not-for-profit, community-based provider of kidney dialysis, public health education, and research into the causes and treatments of chronic kidney disease. Founded in Seattle in 1962, it was the world’s first dialysis organization. It remains the provider of choice because of its high-quality services, community connections and generous donor support. www.nwkidney.org