Faculty & Scientific Staff

Sarah received her BS in chemical engineering in 2004 from the University of South Carolina. She then joined the Medical Scholars Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign/University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine from 2008 to 2016. She worked in the lab of Dr. Rohit Bhargava, obtaining her MS (2010) and PhD (2013) in bioengineering. Her research focused on the tumor microenvironment in breast cancer, and used label-free vibrational spectroscopic imaging and 3D cell co-culture methods to identify patterns linked to resistance to endocrine therapies. She then moved to Seattle in 2016 to join the University of Washington (UW) for a clinical residency in internal medicine (2016-2019). She then completed a fellowship in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. She is currently a senior research fellow at UW and a visiting scientist/postdoctoral fellow at BRI, which she joined in 2021.

Her clinical and research interest is interstitial lung disease, particularly the balance between lung tissue injury and inflammation, repair, and fibrosis. She uses RNA sequencing and high-parameter flow cytometry to identify macrophage populations in lung injury and in interstitial lung diseases. In her free time, she enjoys gravel biking and baking fancy cakes.