Team Spotlight:
Eduardo Navarrete, Emergency Department Medical Director, West Suburban Hospital, Illinois Emergency Medicine Specialists (IEMS)
September 1, 2023
Eduardo Navarret
e, MD, FACEP, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and a valued member of Illinois Emergency Medicine Specialists (IEMS) and the Emergency Care Partners’ (ECP) family. Dr. Navarrete serves as the Emergency Department Medical Director at West Suburban Medical Center in Chicago, IL. As a passionate IEMS executive leadership team member, Dr. Navarrete directs the transitional management team that provides immediate leadership and culture integration to new client hospitals. He has also assisted in developing and administering some of IEMS’ best practices, including protocols for pain management and opioid addiction.
Immigrating to the United States from Mexico with his family when he was just eight years old, Dr. Navarrete began working at a young age to assist his family in their new home in California. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from the University of California at Davis. Dr. Navarrete earned his medical degree from the University of California San Francisco School (UCSF) of Medicine and completed his post-graduate work at the University Hospitals of Columbia and Cornell and his Emergency Medicine Residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He then relocated to Chicago to begin his career as an Emergency Physician.
Clinical Leadership Experience in Emergency Medicine
Dr. Navarrete has a passion for caring for patients in the Chicagoland area and has held several clinical leadership positions throughout his professional career. Before his time at West Suburban Hospital, he served as the emergency department medical director at Thorek Memorial Hospital, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, and Insight Chicago. While holding these positions, Dr. Navarrete served on numerous committees, including Physician Trauma, Hospital Quality, STEMI, Performance Improvement, Medical Executive, and Credentialing.
Interview with Dr. Navarrete
Q: When did you decide to become a physician?
I suppose from a very young age; I always looked up to physicians. My dad was a doctor in Mexico and chief of staff. I remember when he explained to me what he did for a living; he told me that he just sat next to people, listened to them, and tried to help them. To this day, that is how I view my job, and it reminds me that I have the greatest job in the world.
Although I always thought about becoming a physician, it just did not seem to be in the cards for me as when we moved from Mexico to the States, my dad was no longer working as a physician (he became a nurse’s aide) and getting a job and helping the family was much more important to me than excelling in school. As a result, I barely graduated from high school.
Once I was 18, I realized that unless I started to work towards something, I was going to throw away the main reason my family immigrated here. I enrolled in community college and never looked back. After a lot of work, I eventually got into my dream medical school UCSF, and now, just like my dad, I get to speak to people for a living.
Q: What is your favorite part about working with IEMS and ECP?
I love the people that I work with and our shared values about working with others.
I have been practicing emergency medicine for 11 years, and the close environment that we work in is what really makes things special. IEMS ensures that providers that work with the group all really enjoy what we do, which includes working with nurses, techs, secretaries, and everyone.
Our IEMS President, Dr. Ted Patras, recognizes providers and creates opportunities to lead within the group. As a result, I feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to lead as we grow. As a team, we are constantly listening to one another on improving the diverse group of emergency departments we support. I have learned a tremendous amount from Drs. Richard Phillips, John Moustakas, Herb Zerth, Geoff Crabb, Efrem McAdoo, and Johnny Lund. They comprise our amazing leadership team that cannot be found anywhere else in emergency medicine.
Q: What do you find most challenging about your job?
I really enjoy the pace of a busy emergency department. Obviously, the pressure to ensure every patient experience is positive is a goal we try to achieve, but it can be challenging. I think all of us go through a period in our careers when we feel worn down by everything we see. It took me several years in my career to realize that career happiness is largely up to me. I now know that when we are our best selves and give the benefit of the doubt to our patients; it doesn’t just provide good care for our patients, but it brings great joy to us as physicians. This is advice that I try to pass along to any of the clinicians working beside me. It really can be career-saving.
Q: Outside of work, how do you like to spend your time?
I love spending time with my family. I am married to Theresa, a much more brilliant ER doctor than I am. She not only works full-time but is absolutely the best when it comes to raising our incredible and loud children. Theresa serves as my rock and counsel through everything that I do at work and home.
I enjoy jogging because it clears my mind, and it gives me an excuse not to be taking care of the kids for an hour. Out of nowhere now, I really enjoy creating cool things for my kids, whether it’s a candy shoot for Halloween, converting a 12 v power wheels to a 24V lithium battery racer (with a built-in 3-point shoulder harness), or an awesome Maverick snowboarding helmet.
About Illinois Emergency Medicine Specialists (IEMS):
Founded in 1989, Illinois Emergency Medicine Specialists (IEMS) is an emergency medicine group with a unique democratic partnership and ownership model that attracts emergency medicine professionals seeking a culture of accountability and innovation necessary to meet today’s healthcare challenges. We believe in a collaborative approach that makes our practice indistinguishable from our partner hospitals’ medical and nursing staffs. Working with hospital leadership, we establish shared goals and align physician incentives to reward success and deliver outstanding, high quality, timely, and respectful care.
About Emergency Care Partners
Headquartered in Pensacola, Florida, ECP is a leading provider of emergency medicine and emergency department management services for hospitals across the U.S. with current operations in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Louisiana, Florida, New York, North Carolina, and Illinois. ECP currently sees more than 1,400,000 patient visits annually across operations at 54 sites of service, supported by a clinical workforce of 900+ physicians and mid-level providers. ECP employs a differentiated model relative to other platforms in the industry, highlighted by the ability to maintain ownership through its physician partnership model and for regional/local groups to maintain their branding and clinical autonomy while benefitting from ECP’s resources.
To learn more about Dr. Navarrete, ECP, or IEMS, please fill out our contact form.