Thomas J. Sandora, MD, MPH

Department	Infectious Diseases
Hospital Title	Associate Physician in Medicine
Academic Title	Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Phone	617-919-2900
Fax	617-730-0254
Email	Thomas Sandora
Location	300 Longwood Avenue Boston MA 02115

Research Overview

Dr. Sandora conducts epidemiologic and clinical research, having obtained a Masters in Public Health degree from Harvard in 2004.  His particular areas of interest include hospital epidemiology, infection prevention and control, and hand hygiene.  He also conducts research in medical education.

Gastrointestinal (GI) and respiratory tract infections are common among children attending out-of-home childcare, and these infections are often transmitted to family members in the home.  Dr. Sandora was the principal investigator for the Healthy Hands Healthy Families study, which was the first randomized controlled trial to demonstrate that alcohol-based hand sanitizers (as part of a multifactorial hand hygiene intervention) can reduce illness transmission in the homes of families who have children enrolled in childcare programs.  He also conducted a clinical trial demonstrating that a school-based disinfection and hand hygiene intervention can reduce absenteeism from gastrointestinal illness among elementary school students.

Dr. Sandora’s research also focuses on preventing infections in the hospital.  He has studied interventions to decrease central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in pediatric intensive care settings and has led several studies investigating risk factors for CLABSI in pediatric patient populations such as ICU patients and oncology and stem cell transplant patients, in order to help target adjunctive interventions to prevent these infections.  Examples of other projects include evaluating the test characteristics of influenza diagnostics in children, assessing risk factors for pediatric C. difficile infection, and investigating the epidemiology of MRSA colonization in ICU patients.

Finally, in his role as the associate program director for the Boston Combined Residency in Pediatrics, Dr. Sandora mentors residents and conducts medical education research.  Past projects include a national survey of pediatric program directors regarding procedural training, and the creation and assessment of a procedural skills curriculum for pediatric residents and for medical students.

About Thomas Sandora

Dr. Sandora received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School and his MPH degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his pediatrics residency, chief residency, and infectious diseases fellowship at Children's Hospital Boston.

Key Publications 

• Sandora TJ, Taveras EM, Shih MC, Resnick EA, Lee GM, Ross-Degnan D, Goldmann DA.  A randomized controlled trial of a multifaceted hand hygiene intervention including alcohol-based hand sanitizer and hand hygiene education to reduce illness transmission in the home.  Pediatrics 2005; 116:587-94.
• Sandora TJ, Shih MC, Goldmann DA.  Reducing absenteeism from gastrointestinal and respiratory illness in elementary school students: a randomized, controlled trial of an infection-control intervention.  Pediatrics 2008; 121:e1555-62.
• Sandora TJ, Pfoh E, Lee GM.  Adverse events after administration of tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis vaccine to healthcare workers.  Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2009; 30:389-91.
• Gaies MG, Morris SA, Hafler JP, Graham DA, Capraro AJ, Zhou J, Landrigan CP, Sandora TJ.  Reforming procedural skills training for pediatric residents: a randomized, interventional trial.  Pediatrics 2009; 124:610-19.
• Sandora TJ, Smole SC, Lee GM, Chung S, Williams L, McAdam AJ.  Test characteristics of commercial influenza assays for detecting pandemic influenza A (H1N1) in children.  Pediatr Infect Dis J 2010; 29:261-2.
• Wylie MC, Graham DA, Potter-Bynoe G, Kleinman ME, Randolph AG, Costello JM, Sandora TJ.  Risk factors for central line-associated bloodstream infection in pediatric intensive care units.  Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2010; 31:1049-56.
• Rangel SJ, Fung M, Graham DA, Ma L, Nelson CP, Sandora TJ.  Recent trends in the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in pediatric surgery.  J Pediatr Surg 2011; 46:366-71.
• Sandora TJ, Fung M, Flaherty K, Helsing L, Scanlon P, Potter-Bynoe G, Gidengil CA, Lee GM. Epidemiology and risk factors for Clostridium difficile infection in children.  Pediatr Infect Dis J 2011; 30:580-4.