While in medical school, Sugarman noticed there was a linguistic divide between patients and doctors which led to miscommunication and misinformation so he began working with English professor Ronald R. Butters on this subject. They compiled and classified some of these terms into two categories: slang which is familiar to patients and differ by region and malapropism, in which the patient confuses the pronunciation of standard medical terminology. Following medical school he completed an internship in Obstetrics and Gynecology and a residency in Internal Medicine at Duke. Upon completing his fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, Sugarman accepted a position at Duke University's Medical Center. In 1999, he was appointed as founding director of the Duke Center for the Study of Medical Ethics and Humanities. In 2003, Sugarman was recruited by Michael Klag and Ruth Faden to join the faculty at Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. After his appointment at JHU, in 2004 Sugarman was installed in an Endowed Professorship in Bioethics and Medicine position that was supported by Harvey M. Meyerhoff.
