Sara F. Jacoby, MPH, MSN, PhD
Dr. Jacoby combines nursing and public health in her approach to injury science and urban health research. As a nurse in a Philadelphia ICU, Dr. Jacoby was witness to the profound trauma and violence that impacted the lives of hospitalized patients and their families. This inspires her scholarship on the experience of injured people and the socio-structural etiologies of racial and ethnic disparities in trauma, violence, and opportunities for health.
Cities are dynamic places that can promote health and at the same time be the foundation for profound health inequalities. My research focuses on how injury risks and outcomes intersect with the social and structural conditions of urban environments.
Education
- PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 2015
- MSN, University of Pennsylvania, 2008
- BSN, University of Pennsylvania, 2005
- MPH, Columbia University, 2002
- BA, Rutgers University, 1998
Social Justice
Achieving social justice requires that we acknowledge and respond to our collective and often discriminatory histories and practices in healthcare and public health. Dr. Jacoby’s research on injury and urban health focuses on the structural and social origins of the disparities we see every day and across the country in violence victimization, as well profound inequities in how opportunities for injury recovery, restoration, and health are constructed in American cities and healthcare systems.
Teaching
Dr. Jacoby currently teaches Sociocultural Influences on Health and Nursing Inquiry. She lectures across the curriculum on injury science, the structural determinants of injury and violence, and the application of mixed methods, critical theory, and social epidemiology in nursing research and practice.
Research
Dr. Jacoby’s work focuses specifically on the structural and social origins of disparities in trauma and violence victimization and how opportunities for injury recovery, restoration, and health are constructed in American cities and healthcare systems. She prioritizes mixed methods and community-partnered approaches in her research and has notable expertise supporting the in-depth qualitative elicitation of the lived experience of injured people impacted by gun violence, racism, segregation, and economic marginalization. Her research has been funded by the CDC, NIH, and private foundations. Dr. Jacoby is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research.
Clinical Practice
Dr. Jacoby is a Registered Nurse and completed an MSN as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner with a background in trauma and surgical intensive care nursing.
Selected Career Highlights
- 2022, Fellow, American Academy of Nursing
- 2021, Board of Directors, Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research
- 2019, Rising Star Research Award, Eastern Nursing Research Society
- 2017, Senior Fellow, Leonard David Institute for Health Economics
- 2017, Senior Fellow, Center for Public Health Initiatives
Selected Publications
Jacoby, S.F., Richmond, T.S., Holena, D.N., & Kaufman, E.J. (2018). A safe haven for the injured? Urban trauma care at the intersection of healthcare, law enforcement, and race. Social Science and Medicine. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.05.037.
Beard, J.H., Jacoby, S.F., Maher, Z., Dong. B., Kaufman, E., Goldberg, A.G. & Morrison, C.N. (2021). Changes in shooting incidence in Philadelphia between March and November 2020. JAMA
Addison, H., Richmond, T., Lewis, L., & Jacoby, S.F. (in press) Mental Health Outcomes in Formerly Incarcerated Black Men: A Systematic Mixed Studies Review, Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Jacoby, S.F., Reeping, P. & Branas, C.C. (2020). Police-to-Hospital Transport for Violently Injured Individuals: A Way to Save Lives?. The Annals of the Academy of Political and Social Science, 687(1): 186-201.
Jacoby, S.F. Branas, C.C., Holena, D.N., & Kaufman, E.J. (2020). The broader consequences of prehospital transport by police for penetrating trauma. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Open, 5(1):e000541
Jacoby, S.F., Dong, B., Beard, J.H., Wiebe, D.J., & Morrison, C.N. (2018). The enduring impact of historical and structural racism on urban violence in Philadelphia.Social Science and Medicine. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.05.038.
Jacoby, S. F., Tach, L., Wiebe, D., Guerra, T., & Richmond, T. (2017). The health status and well-being of low-resource, housing-unstable, single-parent families living in violent neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Health and Social Care in the Community, 25(2): 578-589.
Bailey, J., Jacoby S.F., Whitehorn, G., Hall, E., Khatri, U., & Kaufman, E.J. (in press). Compounding Trauma: The Intersections of Racism, Law Enforcement, and Injury, Current Trauma Reports
Palumbo, A.J., Richmond, T.R., Webster, J.W., Koilor, C., & Jacoby, S.F. (2021). The relationship between work and mental health in Black men after serious injury. Injury.
Jacoby, S.F., Rich, J., Webster, J., & Richmond, T.S. (2020). “Sharing things with people that I don’t even know”: Help-seeking for psychological symptoms in injured Black men in Philadelphia. Ethnicity & Health, 25:6, 777-795.
Related News
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New Appointment for Jacoby
Penn Nursing’s Sara Jacoby, MPH, MSN, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health, has been appointed the Calvin Bland Fellow at the School of Nursing. This Fellowship is awarded to select individuals in the Schools of Nursing, Social Policy & Practice, and the Graduate School of Education, as part of the Penn Futures Project, which was established in 2015 to enhance the health and wellbeing of area children and families.
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Two Penn Nursing Professors Awarded Hillman Foundation Grants for Research Addressing the Health of Marginalized Populations
The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation (RAHF) announced $1.5 million in grants to support bold new programs addressing the health of marginalized populations. Two of the grant recipients are from Penn Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health: J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, the Tyson Family Endowed Term Chair for Gerontological Research and Associate Professor of Nursing; and Sara Jacoby, PhD, the Calvin Bland Fellow and Assistant Professor of Nursing.
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Incarceration Associated with Negative Mental Health Risks for Black Men
A review of literature from the past decade found that for this group in the U.S. such a detention was linked to higher levels of psychological distress, more severe symptoms of PTSD and depression, and more.