Director of Clinical Research
University of Utah Medical School
Dr. Vaughn is a practicing hospitalist, an Associate Professor of Medicine with Tenure, Director of Clinical Research, and Associate Director of IMPACT (Integrating Medicine & Policy to Achieve HealthCare Transformation) in the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Her research focuses on improving the safety of hospitalized patients with common infections, particularly pneumonia and urinary tract infection. To do so, she has focused on combating diagnostic error and overuse, particularly antibiotic overuse at transitions of care. As a practicing hospitalist, Dr. Vaughn works to understand the role hospitalists play in inappropriate antibiotic prescribing related to common infections. These interests span various areas, including understanding drivers and appropriateness of use, physician decision-making and cognitive error, and organizational culture. She also serves as hospitalist lead for the Antimicrobial Use Initiative within the Hospital Medicine Safety Consortium (HMS) which helps hospitals use their own data to improve the care of patients with infection.