Sara Fischer

Professor Fischer is a scholar and teacher of global health policy and systems, with a regional focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Formally trained as a political scientist with a background in public health, her scholarship lies at the nexus of global health systems, the politics of health policy and global governance, international development, and the power dynamics of foreign aid relationships. Her current book project focuses on the everyday practices of community health workers in Malawi, and centers their experience as intertwined with state and donor-led development projects, while maintaining robust relationships with members of the communities where they live and work.

Previously, she has published research in journals like BMJ Global Health, International Journal of Health Policy and Management, and Reproductive Health. She also co-authored a book chapter on the politics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi. For her PhD research, she was awarded a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award, a Cosmos Club Scholar Award, and several internal grants. She was also awarded the Best Graduate Student Paper prize from the International Studies Association Global Health section. Prior to her academic career, she worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, assisting with cancer screening research. She also worked as a consultant at EngenderHealth doing monitoring, evaluation, and learning for reproductive health projects; at the World Health Organization doing Health Systems Performance Assessment; and at several community-based organizations doing background research, evaluation, and proposal planning.​