Jeffrey P. Yaeger

Dr. Jeffrey P. Yaeger is an Associate Professor in both the Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He specializes in Pediatric Hospital Medicine and is a board-certified pediatrician through the American Board of Pediatrics. Dr. Yaeger serves as the Principal Investigator of the Child Health Equity and Decision-making Research (CHEDR) team, focusing on addressing health disparities through innovative research approaches.

Dr. Yaeger received his MD from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2007 and completed his Pediatrics residency and research fellowship at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. He also earned an MPH from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health in 2013. His educational background reflects his dual commitment to clinical medicine and population health.

Dr. Yaeger's research centers on integrating social determinants of health with clinical decision-making to improve outcomes and mitigate healthcare disparities, particularly for vulnerable pediatric populations. His work employs advanced methodologies including decision science, community-based participatory research, and data mining of electronic medical records. He has developed predictive models aimed at optimizing disease risk assessment and resource utilization in pediatric care.

Analysis of Dr. Yaeger's recent publications reveals a strong focus on febrile infants and pediatric sepsis, with particular attention to racial disparities and the impact of social determinants of health. His research spans clinical prediction modeling, implementation of clinical practice guidelines, and the development of natural language processing algorithms for electronic health records. A consistent theme across his work is the pursuit of health equity through evidence-based clinical decision support.

• Richard Sarkin/Gold Humanism Honor Society (2007)
• Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society (2003)

Dr. Yaeger mentors numerous students through the CHEDR lab, including undergraduate researchers, graduate students, and medical students. His research is supported by significant funding, including a K23 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for his Pediatric Severe Sepsis Project. These grants support his work investigating practice variation in febrile infant care and racial disparities in sepsis outcomes.

The Child Health Equity and Decision-making Research (CHEDR) team, led by Dr. Yaeger, employs a multidisciplinary approach combining decision science, community-based participatory research, and advanced data analytics. Current projects include the Practice Variation Project examining clinical decisions for febrile infants and the Pediatric Severe Sepsis Project investigating racial disparities in sepsis outcomes. The lab utilizes mixed methods, multi-level modeling, small area variation analysis, causal inference, decision analysis, and machine learning to address healthcare disparities.