Sandra Potthoff, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota, and from 2002-June 30, 2010 served as director of the Master of Healthcare Administration Program. Her master’s and doctoral degrees are in Industrial Engineering (1984 and 1991, respectively) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her undergraduate degree is in Social Work (1980), also from UW-Madison.
Dr. Potthoff teaches in the areas of operations research and quality in healthcare, problem solving, and information technology in long term care. She also serves as a faculty advisor for CLARION, an interprofessional student group at the University of Minnesota.
Her research focuses on the application of industrial engineering tools to healthcare problems and on quality management practices in healthcare. Her recent work is utilizing time stamp data from electronic bed management systems and electronic medical records to improve nurse staffing and scheduling. As she transitions out of her Program Director role, she will also be focusing in the area of collaborative leadership for healthy communities.