Sara Baumann is a PhD-level global health, mixed methods public health researcher with primary research interests in innovative and creative visual research methods, women’s reproductive health, and mental health. She has over 12 years of experience conducting research and programming in health and development in South Asia. Her research agenda embraces community-engaged approaches and outcomes that are action-oriented for improving social determinants of health. Sara holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, and completed her dissertation field work under a Boren Fellowship in Nepal, where she has been working and researching for the past seven six years.
Sara was also awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Bangladesh, where she studied Bengali, worked on HIV/AIDS and access to healthcare among the transgender population in urban Dhaka, and completed a Master’s in Public Health from BRAC University. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology of Health and Aging from the University of Michigan, with a minor in Peace and Social Justice.
Sara’s research interests involve the intersection of visual methods and public health, with a focus on participatory filmmaking methods, and sexual and reproductive health in diverse contexts around the world (e.g., Madagascar, Ethiopia, Nepal, Italy, the Republic of Georgia, and more). Her current scholarship explores menstrual health in far-west Nepal. She developed a research method called Collaborative Filmmaking, where participants are trained as community producers to create films to advance knowledge about health behaviors. She is also the creator of the short film series, Cycle Series, that investigates lesser-known experiences of menstruation in Pittsburgh, and uses film as a dissemination and advocacy tool in public health. Sara’s research interests include gender, international development, social determinants of health, qualitative research, visual anthropology, reproductive health, LGBTQ health, and sexuality.
She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, where she works on a variety of creative research studies.
