With over a decade of experience in health care operations and population health, Sarah joined The Center as a program specialist II with the Rural Hospital Stabilization (RHSP) program. In her role, she works alongside and guides participating health care organizations as they progress through the program.
Growing up in Northeast Tennessee, the values of rural living were deeply ingrained in her from a young age. Much of her life revolved around school, sports, church, friends, and community. She also looked up to her physician father and saw the incredible impact that health care professionals have and the unique challenges rural communities face. This led her to earn her Bachelor of Science in criminal justice/criminology from East Tennessee State University. Her additional focus areas included risk management, quality improvement, compliance, operational performance, and program evaluation.
Prior to joining The Center, she led regional operations for a large, grant-funded population health initiative serving economically disadvantaged families across Northeast Tennessee. Her background also includes expanding a nationally recognized recovery support program and leading multidisciplinary teams within Tennessee's child welfare system. Throughout her career, Sarah's work has centered on building strong partnerships, improving systems and processes, and helping programs better respond to the needs of the people and communities they serve.
Reflecting on her career, Sarah is most proud of her work with STRONG Families Northeast Tennessee, an initiative supporting eligible families across 10 counties through family partners, mental health services, financial support, and education. Throughout its pilot period, Sarah helped to strengthen program operations by developing processes for quality assurance, milestone review and approvals, documentation, audits, staff guidance, and implementation. Above all, the way she was able to build connections across teams and community and state-level partners is something she is excited to bring to her role with The Center.
In her spare time, Sarah enjoys spending time with her family and being involved in the things that matter most to them such as school activities, sports, and community events. She also enjoys traveling, reading, and finding little pockets of quiet time when life allows.