Sara Jean Singer

Biography

My research in the field of health care management and policy focuses on how organizational leadership and culture impact efforts to implement health delivery innovations, integrate patient care, and improve performance of health care organizations. A key feature of this research is the development of survey instruments that measure provider and patient perspectives on key interpersonal and organizational factors, enabling benchmarking and comparative effectiveness studies, rapid and reliable feedback about the effectiveness of delivery system innovations, and broader dissemination of more successful interventions. In my work, I use organizational and leadership theory and mixed quantitative and qualitative methods.

I developed and teach a course at the Harvard School of Public Health, entitled Health Care Organizations and Organizational Behavior: Leadership and Management for Learning, Innovation, and Performance Improvement, which is offered twice a year. I also teach in the Harvard PhD in Health Policy core course on the subject of “Patient Safety, Safety Culture and Safety Leadership.” In addition, I serve as advisor or dissertation committee member for Masters and Doctoral students at the School of Public Health and for junior faculty recipients of career development awards.

Previously I co-founded and served as Executive Director for the Center for Health Policy at Stanford, where I was also a Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer (1993-2003). I also served as Staff Director for the California Managed Care Improvement Task Force (1997-98), a Senior Legislative Assistant for Health Policy in the US House of Representative (1994), and Health Policy Analyst at the Office of Management and Budget (1992).

Awards and Honors

• Junior Faculty Sabbatical, 2012 - 2013
  Harvard School of Public Health
• Best Paper Award, Theory to Practice Category, 2011
  Academy of Management, Health Care Management Division
• Best Paper Award, Theory to Practice Category, 2010
  Academy of Management, Health Care Management Division
• Best Paper Award, 2009
  Swiss Patient Safety Foundation
• Best Paper Award, 2009
  Best Paper Award
• Most Outstanding Abstract, 2009
  AcademyHealth
• Runner-up Best Paper, 2008
  Academy of Management, Health Care Management Division
• Most Outstanding Abstract, 2007
  AcademyHealth
• Fellowship, 2005 - 2007
  Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
• Fellowship, 2003 - 2007
  Harvard Business School

Publications

• Nurse Burnout and Patient Safety, Satisfaction, and Quality of Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

  Li LZ, Yang P, Singer SJ, Pfeffer J, Mathur MB, Shanafelt T. JAMA Netw Open 2024 Nov 04

• A Coproduced Family Reporting Intervention to Improve Safety Surveillance and Reduce Disparities.

  Khan A, Baird J, Mauskar S, Haskell HW, Habibi AN, Ngo T, Aldarondo A, Berry JG, Copp KL, Liu JP, Elder B, Gray KP, Hennessy K, Humphrey KE, Luff D, Mallick N, Matherson S, McGeachey AG, Melvin P, Pinkham AL, Quiñones-Pérez B, Rogers J, Singer SJ, Stoeck PA, Toomey SL, Viswanath K, Wilder JL, Schuster MA, Landrigan CP. Pediatrics 2024 Oct 01

• Crisis leadership behaviors in healthcare: survey validation and influence on staff outcomes in primary care clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  Yang M, Evans JM, Singer SJ, Gutberg J, Porter TH, Grudniewicz A. BMC Health Serv Res 2024 May 07

• Engaging Interdisciplinary Innovation Teams in Federally Qualified Health Centers.

  Jung OS, Satterstrom P, Singer SJ. Med Care Res Rev 2024

• Do patients who read visit notes on the patient portal have a higher rate of "loop closure" on diagnostic tests and referrals in primary care? A retrospective cohort study.

  Bell SK, Amat MJ, Anderson TS, Aronson MD, Benneyan JC, Fernandez L, Ricci DA, Salant T, Schiff GD, Shafiq U, Singer SJ, Sternberg SB, Zhang C, Phillips RS. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2024 02 16