Biography
Amanda Sammann, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor of general surgery at the University of California, San Francisco and the Founder and Executive Director of The Better Lab; a venture that uses design to study and fix health care challenges. Dr. Sammann is a general surgeon who practices trauma surgery, acute care surgery and surgical critical care at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG).
Dr. Sammann received a bachelor's degree in human biology from Stanford University, a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University and a Medical Degree from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She completed her surgical training at UCSF and her critical care fellowship at Oregon Health & Sciences University. Dr. Sammann also spent two years as the Medical Fellow and Medical Director at the Silicon Valley design firm, IDEO.
Dr. Sammann has spent a lifetime trying to make things better. She has built novel content for health websites, developed surgical training curriculum, designed medical products and fixed dozens of health care systems challenges. Dr. Sammann has expertise in Human Centered Design (HCD) and is leading research at ZSFG to implement and study the HCD process in the health care setting. She lectures on innovation and design locally and nationally.
Education
Institution | Degree | Dept or School | End Date |
---|---|---|---|
University of California, San Francisco | M.D. | Medicine | 2008 |
Board Certifications
American Board of Surgery, General Surgery
American Board of Surgery, Surgical Critical Care
Clinical Expertise
General Surgery
Trauma Surgery
Acute Care Surgery
Surgical Critical Care
Program Affiliations
The Better Lab
Research Narrative
Dr. Sammann is the Founder and Executive Director of The Better Lab, a multidisciplinary venture that conducts human centered design research. The goal of her research is to develop new ways to fix health care challenges through greater empathy and better design and to study these novel methods and their outcomes with rigorous public health methodologies. Early research initiatives are focused on health care systems quality improvement at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
Research Interests
Quality Improvement and Outcomes
Innovation
Human Centered Design
Implementation Sciences
Trauma Care
Underserved Populations
Transitions of Care
Shared Decision Making
Surgical and Medical Education
Publications
- Operating room assist: surgical mentorship and operating room experience for preclerkship medical students.| | PubMed
- 105. An Integrated First Year Surgical Skills Training Curriculum Enhances Studentsā Skills and Improves Interest in Surgery.| | UCSF Research Profile
- QS44. Surgical Mentorship and Operating Room Experience For Preclerkship Medical Students.| | UCSF Research Profile
- A surgical skills elective to expose preclinical medical students to surgery.| | PubMed
- P29 Teaching surgical skills in the pre-clinical years: Suggestions for improvement on the operating room assist (āOR Assistā) elective.| | UCSF Research Profile