Christopher M Mcstay, MD

Dr. Christopher McStay serves as the Vice Chair of Operations in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. 

Previously, Dr. McStay worked at the University of Colorado where he served as the Chief of Clinical Operations in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital. In this role Dr. McStay, participated in and led multiple patient safety, quality, operational and disaster related projects in one of the top-performing academic emergency departments in the country. 

As the Chief of Emergency Services, prior to his service in Colorado, Dr. McStay served as the Chief of Emergency Services at Bellevue Hospital and participated in numerous disaster related events including the complete evacuation of Bellevue Hospital after Hurricane Sandy and led the reopening of an EMS receiving Freestanding ED until the hospital reopened 100 days later. Dr. McStay also co-chaired the NYC Health + Hospitals ED Directors Council, which led numerous projects in emergency departments responsible for over one million annual visits. 

Dr. McStay is an expert in clinical operations as well as patient safety and quality, having written, lectured and worked extensively in the space. He is deeply interested in the intersection of operations, process improvement, patient safety/quality and the education of students and trainees. He graduated from Weill Cornell Medical College and completed his emergency medicine residency at NYU/Bellevue Hospital Center and his MBA at the University of Colorado. He served on the Board of Directors of the Wilderness Medical Society, and has completed fellowship training through the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.