Professional Bio

Sarah Brothers’ research examines how vulnerable groups experience and respond to health-related issues. Her work uses surveys, in-depth interviews, ethnographic observations, and Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to focus on topics including methadone treatment during COVID-19, issues facing youth experiencing homelessness, and patient perspectives on HIV and hepatitis C (HCV) treatment. Her dissertation research, which received multiple awards including the Simmons’ Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Medical Sociology from the American Sociological Association, examines the construction, performance, and assessment of “uncredentialed expertise” in assisted injection, a high-risk and common practice in which one person injects another with illicit drugs. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in Women’s Studies, and others.

She holds a doctoral degree in sociology from Yale University and a bachelor of arts in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research has been published in journals including Social Science & Medicine, AIDS and Behavior, the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, and the International Journal of Drug Policy. 

HEALTH AND LIFE COURSE

Illicit substance use, qualitative methods, HIV and HCV, injection drug use practices, medication-based treatment, overdose