Sarah Birken, PhD

Sarah Birken, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, a Faculty Research Fellow and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, and an Associate Member of Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Birken’s research focuses on translating evidence into practice. Specifically, Dr. Birken studies middle managers’ role in implementing evidence-based practices, the implementation of innovations in cancer care, and the selection and application of implementation theories. Dr. Birken’s research has been funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Cancer Research Network, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Birken serves as a National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review Early Career Reviewer, Co-chair of George Washington Cancer Institute’s PCORI-funded Generation and Translation of Evidence Survivorship Special Interest Group, and Core Faculty in the Dissemination and Implementation Science Methods Unit of the North Carolina Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute. Dr. Birken has won awards for distinguished scholarly achievement, such as the Doctoral Competitive Merit Scholarship and the Academy of Management’s Health Care Management Division’s Emerging Scholars Program and Best Paper Based on a Dissertation.