Dr. Sara Heinert is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ. Prior to joining Rutgers in 2020, Dr. Heinert spent 7 years with the Department of Emergency Medicine at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). During this time, she also obtained her PhD in Health Policy and Administration from the UIC School of Public Health. Dr. Heinert also holds a MPH in Epidemiology from University of Michigan- Ann Arbor.

Dr. Heinert’s research interests lie at the intersection of public health and the emergency department, and specifically focus on social emergency medicine research that is patient-centered and addresses access to care and health disparities. For many patients, the emergency department is their only “touch point” with the health care system and Dr. Heinert is interested in developing innovative methods to screen and educate ED patients on their health conditions and connect them to primary care. Additionally, during her time in Chicago, Dr. Heinert was a co-founder of the CHAMPIONS program, which trains high school students to be health advocates and exposes them to healthcare careers. Her NJACTS KL2 award bridges her experience with youth as health advocates and the prevalent issue of uncontrolled hypertension in the US to implement a youth-led digital education intervention to improve blood pressure for hypertensive adults who present to the emergency department. Dr. Heinert’s work has resulted in first-author publications in such journals as the American Journal of Public Health, American Journal of Health Promotion, Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, and Health Promotion Practice (HPP).