Michael Gardiner, MD

Dr. Michael Gardiner is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California San Diego and the Associate Division Chief for Research in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Rady Children’s Hospital. His academic career is distinguished by a strong commitment to clinical excellence, scholarly productivity, and the advancement of pediatric emergency care through innovative research. Dr. Gardiner has served as Principal Investigator and site PI on multiple funded studies, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven clinical decision support tools. His current work centers on Kawasaki MATCH, a machine learning algorithm designed to support the timely diagnosis of Kawasaki Disease. He is currently the PI on an ongoing grant-funded clinical implementation trial of Kawasaki MATCH in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Rady Children’s Hospital.  Dr. Gardiner’s research portfolio spans clinical prediction, infectious disease, and emergency medicine, including contributions to multicenter trials through national and international research networks such as the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) and the Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN). He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, presented at national and international conferences, and led quality improvement initiatives at his institution. As a mentor to medical students, residents, and fellows, he plays a central role in fostering the next generation of clinician-scientists. His long-term goals include expanding the use of AI-based clinical tools across pediatric care settings and securing sustained funding for multicenter validation studies to broadly disseminate and implement these innovations.