Seema Sonnad, Ph.D., named director of Health Services Research for Christiana Care Value Institute

Seema S. Sonnad, Ph.D., is the new director of Health Services Research for Christiana Care’s Value Institute.

“I am excited to become part of a team that is working to apply rigorous research in a real-world setting,” Dr. Sonnad said. “The Value Institute is ideally positioned to collaborate with clinicians on projects that will improve understanding of patient-centered care that is both of the highest quality and cost-effective.

Dr. Sonnad will work with Christiana Care physicians interested in conducting research on health care quality, safety and outcomes, particularly with the group of researchers who have been appointed as Value Institute Scholars.

Timothy Gardner, M.D., director of the Value Institute and medical director of the Center for Heart & Vascular Health at Christiana Care, said Dr. Sonnad will be a valuable asset thanks to her experience designing and conducting collaborative health outcomes research with clinicians at the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania.

“That really positioned her to be a sophisticated and productive researcher,” Dr. Gardner said. “She has also been particularly effective in mentoring young researchers.”

Prior to completing her doctorate in health services and policy analysis, Dr. Sonnad received a Master of Science in statistics from Stanford University (also her undergraduate alma mater), co-founded a medical diagnostics startup company and worked in business development for the Stanford University Hospital. She is interested in a broad range of interdisciplinary and collaborative health services research topics, particularly research on how individuals and organizations make decisions about new technology.

Dr. Sonnad has participated in research leading to more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, including work in surgical outcomes, women in academic medicine, technology diffusion, meta-analysis and guidelines implementation. In addition to her research, she enjoys teaching, and has designed and taught courses on introductory statistics for clinicians, successful publication strategies for academic physicians and outcomes research for devices and diagnostics.

In addition to research and teaching activities, Dr. Sonnad is a longtime member of the Society for Medical Decision Making, serving in many roles including annual conference co-organizer and trustee. She is a member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, associate editor for the American Journal of Managed Care and has served on multiple study sections for the AHRQ, NINR, and SBIR program.