Biography
Dr. Sears is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, Section of Plastic Surgery at the University of Michigan and a Research Investigator at the VA Ann Arbor HSR&D Center for Clinical Management Research (CCMR). Dr. Sears’ clinical area of expertise is in hand surgery and reconstructive plastic surgery. She completed her MD in 2006 and clinical training (plastic surgery residency and hand surgery fellowship) in 2015, all at the University of Michigan. During this time, she was a VA / Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar and earned a Master’s degree in Health and Healthcare Research in 2011. After completion of clinical training, she joined the faculty at the University of Michigan and VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in 2015.
Dr. Sears is interested in improving the efficiency and value of surgical care and appropriate use of diagnostic tests. Dr. Sears’ most recent work focuses on assessing value of care in the pre-surgical period, as well as evaluating episode-based surgical quality in VA and non-VA care settings. She was the recipient of a VA Career Development Award, the Bernard G. Sarnat Excellence in Grant Writing Award from the Plastic Surgery Foundation, and the J. Leonard Goldner Pioneer Award from the American Foundation for Surgery of the Hand. Dr. Sears is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Plastic Surgery Research Council, American Society for Surgery of the Hand (candidate member), and American Association for Hand Surgery.
More information on Dr. Sears' publications, research and grants can be found here.