Sandra L. R. Arnold MD, MSc

Sandra Arnold has been involved in clinical research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center for over 15 years. The focus of her research has been on infections in the normal host including bone and joint infections, pneumonia, endemic fungal infections, and antimicrobial stewardship. She has been mentoring students, residents, and fellows in clinical research during this time including several fellows who have obtained degrees in epidemiology. She is currently actively involved in research in several areas: pediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), bone and joint infections, histoplasmosis, and several projects for the Le Bonheur antimicrobial stewardship program. She was the Le Bonheur site Principal Investigator for The Etiology of Pneumonia in the Community (EPIC) study, sponsored by the CDC. In this study, she enrolled almost 1000 children with community-acquired pneumonia in Memphis. Approximately 2500 children were enrolled at all three sites, creating a rich database of children with CAP for ongoing research. She has designed and implemented a study to assess the effects of a program to screen young children for adverse childhood experiences and social determinants of health (Family Resilience Initiative - FRI) in a hospital-based, primary care, pediatric clinic. This study, the Family Resilience Initiative Research Program, will compare children enrolled in FRI to controls for behavioral and clinical outcomes as well as examine epigenetic changes via a biorepository. As well, she is currently PI on multiple industry-sponsored studies of antiviral and antibacterial therapies as well as several projects related to antimicrobial stewardship at Le Bonheur.