Researcher Spotlight: Ankita Agarwal | Assistant Professor – Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine

What is your professional background?
I am a Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine physician. I received my undergraduate and medical degree at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. Subsequently I completed my Internal Medicine Residency at Brown University. Following my residency, I came to Emory for my pulmonary/critical care fellowship, which is when I became interested in critical care research. During my fellowship I completed a Master of Science in Clinical Research at Emory. My research focuses on ICU administration and workforce.

Which division do you work in? Who is your mentor?
I am an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. My primary mentor is Dr. Jonathan Sevransky.

Briefly describe your research. Why is it important?
My research focuses on understanding and assessing the workload of clinicians in the intensive care unit, and the impact on healthcare worker well-being and patient outcomes. Working in the ICU demands a certain rigor from its healthcare workers and ICU physicians and nurses experience higher rates of burnout compared to their non-ICU clinical counterparts. A greater understanding of how ICU workload affects burnout and well-being and developing interventions to optimize workload can improve healthcare worker well-being and ultimately patient outcomes. I am currently completing a study that measures cognitive load in ICU physicians across the United States and Canada and factors associated with cognitive load. I hope to use this study’s results to inform the development of an intervention that reduces the workload of ICU physicians.

What do you like most about Emory?
The supportive and collaborative environment! I am constantly surprised and grateful for the support and encouragement I receive from my mentors, division, and colleagues.

What is your favorite movie or TV show?
“Gilmore Girls”

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love to read (anything in a novel form, no non-fiction), Bollywood dancing, and most recently I am trying to expand my cooking repertoire.

What is a fun fact about you?
I spent six months in Lucknow, India, before starting medical school and learned to drive a motorcycle — though I would never dare to drive one on Atlanta roads!