Health Services Research Center at University Hospitals Names Three Deputy Directors to Support Robust Growth and Organizational Objectives

UH Research & Education Update | May 2025

The Health Services Research Center (HSRC) at University Hospitals (UH) proudly announces the appointment of three deputy directors, who will leverage their expertise in the continued development of this fast-growing research enterprise.

The newly appointed deputy directors are David Axelrod, MD, MBA; Varun Sundaram, MD, PhD; and Yi Fritz, MS, MBA, PMP. Their combined scientific and administrative expertise significantly expands the resources available at the HSRC to promote promising discoveries and maximize the clinical application of research advances and innovation across the UH health system and beyond.

“These exceptionally talented and experienced leaders will advance healthcare delivery science by identifying, facilitating, and accelerating opportunities to translate our most promising research and innovations into clinical practice and interventions that improve population health,” says Samudragupta Bora, PhD, Founding Director, HSRC and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

The HSRC links to all clinical academic departments within UH and is guided by a five-year strategic plan. Dr. Bora leads a comprehensive effort to grow the more than $100 million extramural-funded portfolio in healthcare delivery science, with research programs focusing on health disparities, health outcomes, health promotion, and health technology.

Working closely with Dr. Bora, the newly appointed deputy directors will position the HSRC to more strongly meet its objectives with their respective expertise and leadership. They will provide strategic guidance for executing the HSRC vision, focus on high-quality scientific endeavors by aligning research activities with institutional priorities while addressing critical healthcare needs in our local and global communities, foster multidisciplinary collaboration within the health system and external partners, and oversee education and training programs.

New Health Services Research Center Deputy Directors Boost Expertise in Key Areas

David Axelrod, MD, MBA

Dr. David Axelrod is a Transplant Surgeon and Vice Chair of the Department of Surgery, and System Medical Director for Value Analytics at UH Cleveland Medical Center; and Professor of Surgery at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. An NIH-funded investigator, his research focuses on the intersection of health economics and surgical outcomes, primarily in solid organ transplants, based largely on administrative data analysis, complex decision analytic modeling, and identification of naturally occurring practice variation through the assessment of real-world evidence.

Varun Sundaram, MD, PhD

Dr. Varun Sundaram is a Heart Failure Cardiologist at UH Cleveland Medical Center, and Section Chief of Advanced Heart Failure at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center; and Associate Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. An NIH-funded investigator, he leads a multidisciplinary team of postdoctoral scholars and research fellows focused on heart failure epidemiology and clinical trials. His research leverages large-scale electronic health record data from the United States, Europe, and Asia, and spans both phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials in heart failure.

Yi Fritz, MS, MBA, PMP

Ms. Yi Fritz is Director of Research Strategy and Administration at UH Research & Education Institute. She works closely with senior leadership across UH, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and Northeast Ohio Medical University to strengthen the health system’s research enterprise. She manages the overall research activities, including fiscal planning, staff oversight, and daily operations of the UH Research and Education Institute.

A Center on a Fast Track to Growth and Maximizing Research Impact

The HSRC was launched in early 2024 to accelerate the translation of cutting-edge research into clinical practices that improve individual and population health outcomes. The Center led by Dr. Bora, a visionary leader and accomplished scientist, who is internationally recognized for his research on neurodevelopmental outcomes of high-risk infants, is working rapidly to establish the HSRC as a national and international leader in health services research, adept at improving the health and well-being of patients, in addition to moving the scientific field of health services research forward.

Under Dr. Bora’s leadership, the HSRC is mobilizing human, scientific, and financial resources to ensure rapid translation of research evidence into clinical settings in and outside the UH health system. The HSRC, which has more than 30 faculty investigators, places a strong emphasis on multidisciplinary team science and promotes partnerships to power scientific excellence, methodological rigor, innovation, and out-of-the-box thinking, areas the deputy directors will continue building upon.

To achieve the vision of the HSRC, activities are streamlined around four major objectives: accelerating innovation in health services research by investing in state-of-the-art research infrastructure and building local, national, and international partnerships; building a cohort of outstanding extramural-funded faculty investigators who specialize in health services research; creating a range of education, mentorship, and continuing professional development opportunities for training the next generation of health services researchers and faculty career advancement; and developing an organizational structure to maximize the community and population impact of health research.