Christopher M. Callahan, MD, MACP

Incoming President and Chief Executive Officer (Summer 2027)

Christopher M. Callahan, MD, MACP is a Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Chief Research and Development Officer at Eskenazi Health. In his current role at Eskenazi Health, he and his team support clinical and strategic decision-making through innovative use of data and data analysis. In 2024, Dr. Callahan and colleagues founded the Regenstrief Center for Health Equity Research (RCHER) at Eskenazi Health to conduct research to reduce health disparities. Funded by the Regenstrief Foundation in Indianapolis, this new Center expands the legacy of collaboration between Eskenazi Health, the Regenstrief Institute, Inc., Indiana University, and other research programs. RCHER benefits from Eskenazi Health’s extensive foundation in community-based primary care and mental health care and its ongoing investments in infrastructure to integrate social care with medical care.

Dr. Callahan graduated from St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1985. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at Baylor College of Medicine in 1988 and completed a fellowship in Health Services Research at the Regenstrief Institute at the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1991. He has been an IU School of Medicine faculty member and a Regenstrief Institute scientist for 35 years. In 1999-2000, he was a Visiting Scholar in the History and Psychopathology Research Program at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. During this sabbatical, he co-authored the book “Reinventing Depression: A History of the Treatment of Depression in Primary Care” (Oxford University Press). He served as the founding Director of the Indiana University Center for Aging Research at Regenstrief Institute for over 20 years. In 2016, Dr. Callahan received the Edward Henderson Award from the American Geriatrics Society for longstanding and highly valued contributions to the field of Geriatric Medicine. In 2025, he received the IU School of Medicine “Excellence in Faculty Mentoring” award for his efforts in developing future generations of clinical researchers.

He and his team have published more than 200 articles in the peer-reviewed literature including the first randomized controlled clinical trial demonstrating the effectiveness of comprehensive care for persons living with dementia and their family caregivers. He retired from clinical practice in the Healthy Aging Brain Center at Eskenazi Health in 2024 after more than 30 years of practice. Dr. Callahan is a Board Member of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation in Indianapolis, IN.