Sara Geierstanger

Sara Geierstanger, MPH, Evaluation Director, has worked with the Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF since 1994. Sara’s evaluation work focuses on the potential of school health services to improve student physical and mental health and well-being to help them succeed in school and life. Her expertise is in multi-site evaluations, using a mixed methods approach of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Her current projects include a comprehensive evaluation of school health centers in Alameda County, as well as multiple evaluations of school-based behavioral health interventions throughout California. Sara received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and French from the University of Michigan and a Master of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She also served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa, and a U.S. Fulbright Research Scholar in Norway. In all of her work, Sara emphasizes the importance of listening to the needs of the populations being served, minimizing data burden on school communities, while collecting the most vital information possible to help improve the lives of vulnerable populations.