Sarah Birken, PhD

Dr. Birken received her MSPH and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Health Policy and Management and her BA from the University of California, Berkeley in Women’s Studies with Phi Beta Kappa honors. She is a postdoctoral fellow in the Cancer Control Education Program at Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Birken’s primary research interests are health care organization and delivery; the dissemination and implementation of innovations; quality improvement; and organizational behavior in cancer care. Currently, she is studying the dissemination and implementation of survivorship care plans in US cancer programs. She has won awards for distinguished scholarly achievement, such as the Academy of Management’s Health Care Management Division Best Paper Based on a Dissertation. Dr. Birken has several peer-reviewed empirical and theoretical publications in highly ranked health services journals and a national presence in the cancer survivorship and dissemination and implementation research communities. She has experience in community health, quality improvement consulting, and academic settings. She has taught courses including a doctoral seminar in Organizational Theory and Health Care Organizations.