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Related Research Units

General Pediatrics Research

Research Overview

Jana Leary's primary research interest focuses on the implementation of social care within routine pediatric inpatient care and addressing social adversity during hospitalization. She is conducting a 4-year implementation research project, funded by a NICHD K23 career development award, focused on integrating social needs screening and referral to community resources into routine pediatric inpatient care across the US (the SOCIAL-H Study). She used mixed methods to determine key barriers to social needs screening and referrals during hospitalizations with clinical leaders from the Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings (PRIS) network. Results will inform subsequent Delphi panels with parents and clinicians to prioritize feasible and impactful solutions to overcome barriers, ultimately informing the creation of an implementation toolkit to assist hospitals in implementing new or improving current inpatient social care programs. She collaborates with social care experts across the nation (via the Social Health Initiatives in Inpatient Environments SHINE network) to disseminate emerging best practices for screening and referring for social needs in inpatient settings.

Research Background

Jana Leary is a pediatric hospitalist and health services researcher, focused on delivering the highest quality inpatient clinical care and research to improve health outcomes for medically and socially vulnerable children. 

She completed her medical training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and pediatric residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, subsequently joining the clinical faculty at Tufts Medical Center as a pediatric hospitalist in 2009. She completed a TL1 research fellowship and obtained her Masters degree in Clinical and Translational Science at the Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in 2018. Dr. Leary subsequently completed a KL2 career development award in 2022 with research focused on standardization of social needs screening in inpatient settings.

Dr. Leary joined the Boston Children's Hospital team as a practicing hospitalist and health services researcher in 2022 where she has continued to grow as an emerging leader in pediatric hospital medicine and social care research. She is currently conducting implementation research funded by a NICHD K23 grant, focused on integration of social needs screening and referral interventions within routine inpatient care across the US.
 

Selected Publications

  1. Leary JC, Price LL, Scott CER, Kent D, Wong JB, Freund KM. Developing Prediction Models for 30-day Unplanned Readmission Among Children with Medical Complexity. Hosp Pediatr, 2019 Mar; 9(3)201-208
  2. Leary JC, Krcmar R, Yoon GH, Freund KM, LeClair AM. Parent Perspectives During Hospital Readmissions for Children with Medical Complexity: A Qualitative Study. Hosp Pediatr, 2020 Mar; 10(3):222-229
  3. Leary JC, Rijhwani L, Bettez NM, LeClair AM, Murillo A, Rodriguez Berrios M, Garg A, Freund KM. Clinical Stakeholder Perspectives on Pediatric Inpatient Screening for Social Needs. Acad Pediatr, 2022 Apr; 22(3):470-477
  4. Leary JC, Rijhwani L, Bettez NM, Harrington Y, LeClair AM, Garg A, Freund KM. Parent Perspectives on Screening for Social Needs During Pediatric Hospitalizations. Hosp Pediatr, 2022 July; 12(8):681-690
  5. Leary JC, Pantell MS, Garg A. Elevating Parents’ Voices in Designing and Implementing Pediatric Inpatient Social Care Systems. Hosp Pediatr, 2023 Aug; 13(8):e213-e215
  6. Leary JC, Bagley H, Chan IT, Coates JL, Foote AM, Murzycki JE, Perkins TA, Landrigan CP, Freund KM, Garg A. Evaluating the Impact of a Pediatric Inpatient Social Care Program in a Community Hospital. Hosp Pediatr, 2024 Apr; 14(4):225-232
  7. Leary JC, Landrigan CP, Garg A. The Rise of Pediatric Inpatient Social Needs Screening and Referral Systems. Acad Pediatr, 2025 Mar; 25(2):102612
  8. Leary JC, Bagley H, Giacchetto, FP, Pate K, Foote AM, Murzycki JE, Freund KM, Garg A, Landrigan CP. Feasibility, Acceptability, and Appropriateness of Screening and Referring for Social Risks in a Community Hospital Setting. Acad Pediatr, 2025 Sept; 25(7):102872

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