Researcher Spotlight: Sara Turbow

NEW 2022 StART Committee Member

What is your professional background? 
I received my MD and MPH in Epidemiology from Emory in 2012, and stayed here for internal medicine/primary care residency. I joined the faculty at Grady in 2015. I have also completed a residency in public health and general preventive medicine here at Emory.

In what division do you work, and who is your mentor? 
I am in the Department of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine and in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine Division of Preventive Medicine. My primary mentor is Mo Ali, although I have been fortunate to have a number of wonderful mentors.

Briefly describe your research. Why is it important? 
I am a health services researcher and aging researcher. My work is currently focused on causes of, and potential solutions to, interhospital care fragmentation, specifically in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease. When patients are readmitted to a different hospital than they were previously discharged from, their care becomes fragmented, leading to higher costs, longer lengths-of-stay, duplicate imaging tests and medications, and higher mortality, both in the hospital and after discharge. This is an important problem because it is common (more than 25 percent of re-admissions nationally are fragmented), yet we don’t have effective ways to prevent, measure, or address it.

What do you like most about Emory? 
The people I get to work with and learn from each day.

What is your favorite movie or TV show? 
My current favorite TV show is “The Expanse.”

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love to sew and make a lot of my own clothes!