Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Sarah Volkman has over twenty years of experience in malaria biology and is a world expert on malaria with a focus on mechanisms of drug resistance. Her primary research interest centers on understanding genetic variation in Plasmodium falciparum, a causative agent of human malaria infection. She is particularly interested in using population genetic strategies to identify genetic loci that contribute to drug resistance in this organism. She is currently working toward the development of a genetic Diversity Map for P. falciparum that may ultimately be used to associate genetic polymorphisms with biologically and clinically relevant phenotypes.

Sarah received her B.S. from the University of California, San Diego (cum laude) in 1986 and her Sc.D. from the Division of Biological Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health in 1995. She conducted postdoctoral studies with Professor Dyann Wirth at the Harvard School of Public Health and was appointed senior research scientist in 1998. Sarah Volkman is a molecular biologist and senior research scientist in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Disease at the Harvard School of Public Health and a member of the Broad Institute. She is also a Professor of Nursing at the School for Health Studies at Simmons College.