Sonal Sakariya, MD

Dr. Sonal Sakariya is a board certified Internal Medicine physician and was recently designated as a “2020 Physician of Excellence” by the Orange County Medical Association. In addition to her primary role as a hospitalist, she is involved with hospital administration and quality improvement initiatives. She currently serves as the Medical Director for the Transitions of Care department, where she focuses on readmission reduction strategies and improving patient outcomes following hospital discharge. Her areas of expertise include sepsis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, acute stroke, and metabolic syndromes. Within her hospitalist subspecialty, Dr.Sakariya has a special interest in terminal illness management. She is also a Medical Director for the Medicare General Inpatient hospice program, overseeing the agency’s clinical and administrative duties. Dr. Sakariya grew up in New York and New Jersey before making her way to California. She received a Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She then went on to complete both medical school and Internal Medicine residency at the University of California, San Diego. Throughout her training, she was active in congestive heart failure biomarker research and became a National Institute of Health grant recipient. Her research has been published several times and she became a first author in the Cardiac Biomarkers in Clinical Practice textbook. Following residency, Dr. Sakariya moved to Orange County and has worked at St. Joseph Hospital since 2014. She considers herself a lifelong learner and is a strong proponent of evidence-based medicine. Most importantly though, she encourages patient empowerment and values the physician-patient partnership. Outside of work, she is passionate about fitness, plant based nutrition, and traveling.