Amy Starmer

Amy Starmer is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UMass Chan Medical School's Baystate Regional Campus, where she focuses on pediatric patient safety, quality improvement, and medical education. Her work spans clinical practice, research, and educational innovation with significant contributions to healthcare systems improvement.

Education:

• BS in Biology from Haverford College
• MPH in Public Health from Harvard University School of Public Health
• MD from Pritzker School of Medicine

Dr. Starmer's research centers on patient handoff communication, clinical pathways, and health disparities in pediatric care. She has pioneered work on the I-PASS handoff program which has transformed communication practices across healthcare settings. Her investigations into gender disparities in physician compensation and wellbeing, transitional care for children with medical complexity, and family-centered communication have significantly advanced pediatric quality improvement. Her work consistently emphasizes implementation science and real-world application of safety protocols.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals consistent focus on patient safety (73%), health equity (47%), and implementation science (60%). Her work spans acute care settings (53%), transitional care (27%), and preventive medicine (20%), with strong emphasis on multicenter collaborations and mixed-methods approaches to evaluate interventions.

Dr. Starmer has received significant recognition for her work through extensive citation impact and social media engagement, with multiple publications highlighted by news outlets, policy sources, Wikipedia, and clinical guideline documents. Her I-PASS research has been particularly influential, with one publication reaching 1071 Mendeley readers and cited by 85 news outlets.

She actively mentors through collaborative research projects, particularly in pediatric hospital medicine and quality improvement initiatives. Her work with the Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings (PRIS) network demonstrates commitment to building research infrastructure. Current grants likely support her ongoing work in clinical pathways, health equity frameworks, and pandemic recovery initiatives in pediatric care.

Dr. Starmer leads quality improvement initiatives across multiple pediatric divisions, focusing on asthma management, vaccine delivery, and care transitions. Her work with the I-PASS program has established standardized communication protocols now implemented across diverse healthcare settings. She collaborates extensively with national networks to advance pediatric safety and quality improvement science.