Harnessing observational data through causal inference to reduce hospital readmissions for survivors of pneumonia with respiratory failure

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute awarded The Johns Hopkins University $510,916 on February 26, 2026, under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) to support postdoctoral research training and career development for Dr. Andrew Davis in clinical epidemiology, causal inference, and informatics. The award funds Dr. Davis's research on reducing hospital readmissions for survivors of community-acquired pneumonia with respiratory failure, work performed in Baltimore, Maryland through August 25, 2027. The F32 project grant supports Dr. Davis's development of expertise in biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, and bioinformatics through research conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Theodore J. Iwashyna at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, coupled with formal coursework leading to a Master of Health Science degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Davis, a postdoctoral fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins, will leverage observational data and causal inference methods to investigate best practices for safe discharge of patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia and hypoxemia, addressing gaps in current clinical guidelines. The training plan supports Dr. Davis's long-term career goal of becoming an independent health services researcher investigating evidence-based interventions to improve outcomes for pneumonia and respiratory failure survivors, including preparation to write a K23 career development award.

Abstract

Candidate's long-term career goals: by pursuing the training plan outlined in this F32 proposal, DR. Andrew davis will learn key skills in clinical epidemiology, causal inference, and informatics while writing a K23 award and ultimately becoming an independent health services researcher investigating evidenced-based interventions to improve outcomes for survivors of pneumonia and respiratory failure. Clinical problem to be addressed: community acquired pneumonia (cap) with hypoxemia remains a major driver of hospitalizations, readmissions and new post-discharge morbidity. Current cap guidelines are limited and make no recommendations on best practices to support the safe discharge of patient's home. Candidate background: DR. Davis is a postdoctoral fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at johns hopkins university. He received his MD from the university of pennsylvania (2019) after completing an intramural research training award fellowship at the NIH (2013-2015). He has coauthored 9 peer-reviewed publications and presented 6 oral and 8 poster presentations at national conferences. His department is strongly committed to his scientific career and has awarded him a 1-year fellowship on a T32 training grant. Career development plan: in order to achieve his goals, he proposes to develop expertise in biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, and bioinformatics through completing the research aims outlined in this proposal under the close guidance of his mentorship team, as well as through pursuing formal coursework leading to a master of health science (MHS) degree from the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. Mentors: his primary mentor is DR. Theodore j. Iwashyna at the johns hopkins school of medicine, who has supervised 15 k-level or equivalent career development awards of whom 10 have so far transitioned to PI of r- level awards or equivalents. He will be CO-mentored in bioinformatics by DR. Khyzer aziz, assistant professor of pediatrics and chief medical information officer at the johns hopkins children' center, and in biostatistics by DR. Akihiko nishimura, assistant professor of biostatistics at the bloomberg school of public health. Aims: he will use the johns hopkins precision medicine analytics platform (pmap) comprising observational data from 2.4 million patients and 23 million healthcare encounters in both research aims. First, he will perform a target trial emulation evaluating the effect of scheduling early primary care follow-up at discharge following admission for hypoxemic cap. Then he will develop the informatics infrastructure needed to investigate optimal discharge diuretic regimens for survivors of cap with comorbid heart failure in his future K23 award proposal. Deliverables from aims: his proposed aims will lead to 3-4 publications over 2 years with semiannual presentations at national conferences. This proposal constitutes the foundation for a future K23 application to develop evidence-based guidelines to improve outcomes for survivors of pneumonia and respiratory failure by supporting their safe discharge home following hospital admission.