Sara has more than 20 years of experience in communications with a strong background in writing, project management, media relations and strategy development. At Burness, Sara focuses on initiatives related to the social determinants of health, community development and social policy issues, working with clients including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center for Community Investment, Northern Virginia Health Foundation, and CityHealth, and previously with organizations including the Brookings Institution, the Low Income Investment Fund, Housing Partnership Network, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Society and Health, and the Consumer Health Foundation.
She joined Burness in 2006 after spending six years as a senior communications officer at the Kaiser Family Foundation, where she worked with reporters, planned media briefings, conducted media trainings and wrote materials for activities related to the Foundation’s work on Medicare, Medicaid, the uninsured, health care marketplace trends and public opinion research. Previously, she was editor-in-chief of American Health Line, a daily online newsletter covering health care politics, policy and business. Sara began her career at Hill & Knowlton, where she conducted media relations activities in the health care practice group. A native of Syracuse, New York, she has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Richmond.