Sara J. Singer

Sara Singer, PhD, MBA, is a professor of health policy at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Professor by courtesy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is the faculty director of the Health Leadership, Innovation, and Organizations (HELIO) Labs, which fosters interdisciplinary collaboration among colleagues from across the University, including Stanford Health Care and the Schools of Medicine, Business, Engineering, Design, Sustainability, Law, and Humanities and Sciences — and across the globe.

Singer's research in the field of health care management and policy is informed by her interdisciplinary training in health policy, organizational behavior, and general management. Using innovative mixed methods and organizational theories, she studies health-care teams and organizations to understand how leaders and policymakers can improve the safety and quality of health-care delivery through changes in institutional culture, leadership, organizational design, and team dynamics. Her research program is built around central challenges in health-care delivery (ensuring patient safety despite enormous complexity and uncertainty in diagnosis, treatment, and disease progression; integrating increasingly fragmented services across multiple service providers and organizations; and implementing, adapting, and sustaining innovations that enhance the value of health care), where my research suggests that learning- and systems-oriented leaders and teams and supportive organizational cultures are critical factors for creating a high performing health care delivery system.