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 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 is currently completing work to assess the impact of a hand hygiene educational and behavior change campaign on parental knowledge and practices regarding hand hygiene and illness transmission. In addition, Dr. Sandora is conducting a clinical trial to assess whether a school-based disinfection and hand hygiene intervention can reduce absenteeism among elementary school students.

In 1999 the Institute of Medicine released a report estimating that at least 44,000 to 98,000 people in the U.S. die each year because of medical error. Since that time the focus on patient safety research has increased dramatically. Dr. Sandora conducted a prospective observational study demonstrating that medical errors can be detected and corrected by a pediatric infectious diseases consultation service in the course of routine work. He worked as a project team member for CHAMPS (Children's Hospital Applications Maximizing Patient Safety), the project to implement a new electronic clinical information system at Children's Hospital Boston (including a computerized provider order entry system and an electronic clinical documentation system to support processes of care). He is currently leading a study to assess the impact of such a system on medication errors in pediatric patients.

Dr. Sandora's research interests also include community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), a common pediatric infection for which management is highly variable. Lack of standardized care practices may unnecessarily compromise patient safety. He is currently conducting a study to assess the variability of care for children with CAP by measuring adherence to evidence-based process of care measures such as choice of antibiotic and time to antibiotic administration. These data will be used to conduct a failure modes and effects analysis and to guide development of a pediatric clinical practice guideline (CPG) for CAP in order to assess the impact of such a guideline on pneumonia management.

Finally, in his role as the assistant program director for the Boston Combined Residency in Pediatrics, Dr. Sandora mentors residents and conducts medical education research. Current 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.