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Dr. Sharath is an accomplished epidemiologist and biostatistician. She serves as the Director of Clinical and Health Services Research for the Department of Surgery and holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Public Health.

In addition to developing her faculty portfolio, Dr. Sharath's responsibilities center around research education for trainees and development of the department's research program, largely achieved through the Department's iNSPIRe Initiative. 

Dr. Sharath received her PhD in Epidemiology with a minor in Biostatistics from the University of Texas Health Sciences University in Houston, TX. She holds an MPH in Epidemiology and a BS in Microbiology from Texas A&M University in College Station, TX

Dr. Sharath's research spans clinical outcomes, health services research, and quantiative methods in high-risk surgeries, with a consistent focus on equity and value in care delivery. She uses large administrative datasets to evaluate quality and access among vulnerable patients. Dr. Sharath is interested in patient-centered value, incorporating functional recovery, satisfaction, and lived experience alongside traditional survival and utilization metrics.

Methodologically, Dr. Sharath draws on advanced epidemiologic and biostatistical techniques to apply them to problems such as hospital performance, program evaluation, and policy-relevant questions in public health. Across projects, she integrates clinical insight, population health, and health economics to inform interventions and policies that improve equity, efficiency, and quality in real-world health systems.

• Liberal or Restrictive Postoperative Transfusion in Patients at High Cardiac Risk: The TOP Randomized Clinical Trial.
  
  Kougias P, Sharath SE, Zhan M, Carson JL, Norman LE, Mi Z, Pal R, Dosluoglu H, Modrall JG, Sarosi GA Jr, Nelson P, Arya S, Scrymgeour A, Ollison J, Calais LA, Nambi V, Gregg LP, Abdullah SM, Tsai S, Becker N, Choi JC, Chiu L, Scali S, Barshes NR, Awad S, Moursi M, Koopmann MC, Sally M, Ihnat D, Ramaswamy A, Gasper W, Tzeng E, Wilson MA, Tang G, Huang G, Biswas K; TOP Trial Investigators. (2025).
  
  JAMA. Published online November 08, 2025. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.20841 
    
  **Featured in editorial of publishing journal: Jacobs JW, Bloch EM (2025). Postoperative Transfusion in Patients at High Cardiac Risk: Evidence, Uncertainty, and Nuance. JAMA. Published online November 08, 2025. doi:10.1001/jama.2025.21559.
• At the Edge of a New Frontier in Quality Measures.
  
  Kougias P, Sharath SE (2024). 
  
  JAMA Surgery, invited commentary, PMID: 38150236
• High Prices, Low Outcomes: The Truth Behind Hospital Markups.
  
  Sharath SE, Kougias P, Berger DH (2025). 
  
  JAMA Surgery, invited commentary, PMID: 40991298
• Preoperative Social Support – Impact of Outcomes after Elective Surgery in Older Adults.
  
  Holland K, Lis P, Medvedovsky S, Ferguson C, Sihaloho D, Kougias P, Sharath SE (2025). 
  
  JAMA Surgery, online ahead of print, PMID: 41091518

• Turning Tides: Evolving Comorbidity Profiles, Demographic Shift, and the Unexpected Rise of Major Lower Extremity Amputations.
  
  Kougias P, Sharath SE, Ferguson C, Natarajan S, Medvedovsky S, Orlov D, Berger DH (2025).
  
  Annals of Surgery, online ahead of print, PMID: 40548585

• Facility Medicaid Payer Burden and Non-Elective Admission for Chronic Limb Threatening Ischemia.
  
  Medvedovsky S, Sharath SE, Kougias P (2024). 
  
  JAMA Surgery, online ahead of print, PMID: 39602113

• Treatment of early deep wound infections: ameta-analysisandsurvey.
  
  Sharath SE, Zamani N, DeSantis S, Kougias P (2021).  
  
  Annals of Vascular Surgery, 74:356-366. PMID: 33549780

• Variation in Long-Term Mortality Risk by Race/Ethnicity. 
  
  Sharath SE, Balentine C, Berger DH, Zhan M, Zamani N, Choi JC, Kougias P (2024).
  
  Journal of Racial and Ethnic Disparities, online ahead of print, PMID: 39264540

• Association between Facility Medicaid Burden and Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infection-Related Mortality.
  
  Edwards JA, Sharath SE, Kougias P (2024). 
  
  JAMA Surgery, PMID: 39602113

• Effect of postoperative permissive anemia and cardiovascular risk status on outcomes after major general and vascular surgery operative interventions.
  
  Kougias P, Sharath S, Mi Z, Biswas K, Mills JL (2019).  
  
  Annals of Surgery, 270 (4): 602 – 611. PMID: 31478978

• Delayed gratification and adherence to exercise among patients with claudication. 
  
  Sharath SE, Lee MJ, Kougias P, Taylor WC, Zamani N, Barshes NR (2019).  
  
  Vascular Medicine, 24(6): 519-527. PMID: 31409207

• Successful smoking cessation associated with walking behavior in patients with claudication.    
  
  Sharath SE, Lee MJ, Kougias P, Taylor WC, Zamani N, Barshes NR (2018).  
  
  Annals of Vascular Surgery, 53:287-293. PMID: 30500660

• Missing data in surgical data sets: a review ofpertinentissuesandsolutions.
  
  Sharath SE, Zamani N, Kougias P, Kim S (2018).  
  
  Journal of Surgical Research, 232: 240-246. PMID: 30463724
  
  ** Featured on the cover of the publishing journal with accompanying cover illustration.

• Effect of postoperative anemia and baseline cardiac risk on serious adverse outcomes after major vascular interventions.
  
  Kougias P, Sharath S, Barshes NR, Chen M, Mills JL (2017).  
  
  Journal of Vascular Surgery, 66(6):1836-1843. PMID: 28947229

• The influence of pain-related beliefs on physical activity and health attitudes in patients with claudication: A pilot study.
  
  Sharath S, Kougias P, Barshes NR (2017).
  
  Vascular Medicine, 22(5): 378-384. PMID: 28545320

  ** Featured in editorial of publishing journal: Schorr, E.N., Mays, R.J., (2017). Patient perspectives on claudication: An opportunity to improve the adoption and adherence of exercise therapy. Vascular Medicine, 22(5): 385-6.