Pronouns: she/her/hers
Department: Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health
Hometown: Dallas, TX
How’d you get into injury and violence prevention work?
I used to volunteer at a rape crisis center in San Francisco. Supporting survivors of sexual assault was really meaningful and rewarding work. But after seeing how people were impacted by violence, it sparked in me a passion for preventing violence.
Tell us what projects you’re working on currently. And what makes them exciting to you?
My research revolves around identifying structural determinants of violence among vulnerable populations, and translating research findings to inform primary prevention and programming. I am working on a lot of exciting projects right now. One is examining a gender-transformative community mobilization project as a mechanism to address both intimate partner violence (IPV) and violence against children; finding synergies between prevention programming is extremely important to the field. I am also in the process of publishing research that identifies neighborhood predictors of IPV among refugees living in northern Ecuador. With the current humanitarian crisis due to mass migration out of Venezuela, understanding how to prevent IPV among such a vulnerable group is extremely timely and relevant.
Where were you before you started your program at UNC?
I received my MPH in Maternal and Child Health at University of California, Berkeley, and then worked with the City of Oakland’s violence prevention team, and the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.
What’s something you spend your time doing outside of work and school?
I have two amazing (and energetic) little girls, a wonderful partner, and a cat and dog – so any time not at work or school is family time!
What’s your favorite 90s jam?
I have so many favorites…one is “I’m just a girl” by No Doubt
Check out some of Sarah’s recent publications:
- Sexual and Physical Violence in Childhood is Associated With Adult Intimate Partner Violence and Nonpartner Sexual Violence in a Representative Sample of Rural South African Men and Women in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence
- Leveraging Data to Strengthen Campus Sexual Assault Policies published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence
- A situational analysis methodology to inform comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment programming, applied in rural South Africa in the Journal of Global Public Health