Lumie Kawasaki, MD, MBA

Dr. Lumie Kawasaki is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Section of General Internal Medicine & Geriatrics. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island where she studied Applied Mathematics. Dr. Kawasaki worked several years in the fields of architecture, engineering, and business, receiving a Master of Business Administration at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. She then matriculated to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where she obtained her Medical Doctorate. Dr. Kawasaki completed her residency training at Tulane University Health Sciences Center and subsequently returned to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to complete her clinical fellowship in Geriatrics.

She joined the faculty of the Department of Medicine in 2003. Dr. Kawasaki serves as the Associate Chief of Staff for the Geriatrics and Extended Care Service at Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System (SLVHCS) and as Medical Director for St. Margaret’s Nursing Home.

Dr. Kawasaki is a recipient of a five-year Geriatric Academic Career Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration. With this award, Dr. Kawasaki focused on the development of an interdisciplinary community-based model, adjoining educational and curricular opportunities with academic-community partnerships.  At SLVHCS, Dr. Kawasaki has actively implemented and provides program oversite in the development of several programs to support and strengthen the care of older, frail Veterans, including the SLVHCS Hospital in Home program that serves as an alternative to hospital care and has served to broaden the continuum of home-based services to Veterans from sub-acute to chronic disease management; the Community Living Center (aka VA’s Nursing Home); and outpatient Geriatric clinics.  All models of care implemented utilize an interdisciplinary team-based model of care

Interests:

Dr. Kawasaki's research interest includes developing interdisciplinary community-based models to improve home-based care for frail elderly. She has also been a co-investigator on a randomized trial assessing the effectiveness of group visits for the treatment of hypertension and is conducting a survey assessing the willingness of low-income patients to attend group visits for medical care.