WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Snigdha Jain, an Indian American Yale Department of Internal Medicine faculty member, has been named a 2025 Scholar in Diagnostic Excellence by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) for her commitment to improving diagnostic approaches.
The NAM Scholars in Diagnostic Excellence program identifies health professionals with the potential to advance diagnostic excellence and reduce diagnostic errors at the national level. Each scholar receives funding, mentorship, and the opportunity to develop a project that will advance equity, accuracy, and systems change in clinical diagnosis.
For Jain, assistant professor of medicine (pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine), the recognition validates years of research on a little-recognized but serious problem in intensive care units (ICUs): prolonged sedation and ventilator use, according to a Yale press release.
“Up to three-quarters of patients who survive hospitalization with a stay in the ICU develop new and persistent decline in their physical, cognitive, or mental health,” she says.
“This decline is a consequence of both critical illness itself and treatments we use in the ICU like sedation and prolonged ventilator support that predispose patients to delirium and immobility.”
Jain’s NAM project aims to reduce this harm by using electronic health records (EHRs) to process complex clinical data and alert ICU clinicians when patients are ready to be weaned from sedative medications and ventilator support.
There are protocols for this, Jain notes, but they require cognitive bandwidth from already busy clinicians. “I hope my project helps deliver timely, evidence-based care that reduces mortality and long-term complications,” she says. “I also hope this systems-based approach will reduce disparities in care delivery and lead to equitable improvement of long-term outcomes.”
Jain completed her medical school at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa before starting her fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She joined Yale as a post-doctoral fellow in the NIA-funded T32 Geriatric Clinical Epidemiology and Aging-Related Research program to pursue her research interest of improving health outcomes of critically ill older adults. Her research program, funded by the National Institutes on Aging (NIA) Grant for Early Medical and Surgical Specialists Transitioning to Aging Research (GEMSSTAR) Award, the Parker B. Francis Family Foundation Fellowship Award, the Yale Pepper Center Scholar Award, and the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation Scholar Award, focuses on improving patient-centered outcomes of older adults with serious illnesses including critical illness.
Jain’s work has been recognized with numerous awards including the Emerging Career Award by the Behavioral Sciences and Health Services Research Assembly of the American Thoracic Society (ATS), the Health in Aging Foundation New Investigator Award by the American Geriatrics Society (AGS), and the Emerging Generations Award by the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI).
She serves on the Planning Committee of the Critical Care Assembly of the American Thoracic Society, the Discovery Steering Committee of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and as an Associate Editor for Chest Critical Care.
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