Jennifer St. Sauver, Ph.D.

Jennifer St. Sauver, Ph.D., studies the factors that influence the health and health outcomes of large populations. Her research focuses specifically on describing disease trends over time and identifying populations at high risk of poor health outcomes.

Dr. St. Sauver is a member of the Population Health Program in the Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery. She is also the scientific manager of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a National Institutes of Health-funded research infrastructure that collates and indexes health care information from virtually all sources of medical care available to residents of Olmsted County, Minnesota. These data have been utilized by investigators throughout the country, resulting in more than 2,000 publications on a wide range of health care topics.

Focus areas

Current studies include:

• Describing the most common diagnoses, drug prescription patterns and therapeutic procedures in the local population of Olmsted County, Minnesota
• Identifying groups of patients who are especially likely to become hospitalized or use the emergency room
• Identifying groups of patients who are especially likely to develop chronic health conditions

Significance to patient care

Dr. St. Sauver's research provides a comprehensive picture of the current health of the local community. These data will be used as baseline measures for future population-level interventions. Additionally, this type of research is needed for focusing efforts to improve clinical care among the patients who are the primary users of health care.