Sara Jacoby is a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Her research addresses the socio-structural determinants of injury risk and recovery in urban environments, with a specific focus on place and policy-based etiologies of racialized disparities in trauma and violence victimization. Her work has identified ways in which opportunities for injury recovery and health risks are constructed in American cities to reify healthcare disenfranchisement in systematically marginalized and minoritized communities. Dr. Jacoby is one of few scholars, in any field, to study the legal and ethical issues that arise when trauma care and law enforcement intersect. Her research impact has led to numerous publications reaching a wide interdisciplinary audience and partnerships with public health agencies and community-based organizations. Her work has been sponsored by the NIH, the CDC, and multiple private foundations. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research.

Dr. Jacoby received her BA from Rutgers College, her MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, her BSN, MSN, and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.