Joanna Abraham

Joanna Abraham, PhD, FACMI, FAMIA, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and the Institute for Informatics, Data Science and Biostatistics (I2DB) at Washington University in St. Louis. She directs the Center for Applied Health Informatics and leads the SAFE-T Lab, which focuses on improving patient safety and care transitions through telemedicine, machine learning, and collaborative workflow solutions. Her research spans perioperative mental health interventions, AI-driven risk prediction, and health IT implementation. Dr. Abraham has received the 2023 AMIA Diana Forsythe Award for her contributions to biomedical informatics. She collaborates on projects like the TECTONICS telemedicine trial and the Periop ORACLE randomized study evaluating machine learning in clinical decision support. Her work emphasizes culturally adapted interventions for vulnerable populations and interdisciplinary approaches to healthcare innovation.

Research interests include:

• Machine learning applications in perioperative care
• Telemedicine for critical care consultation
• Clinician-patient communication during handoffs
• Mental health in surgical populations
• Health equity through culturally tailored interventions

Recent work highlights include:

• A 2025 systematic review of postoperative care transition protocols
• A 2023 randomized trial demonstrating telemedicine's impact on anesthesia care outcomes
• Development of a culturally adapted mental health intervention for older Black surgical patients

Labs/Teams: SAFE-T Lab (Supporting Advancements for Frontline Excellence in Patient Safety and Technology) and the Center for Applied Health Informatics.