For as long as she can remember, Sarah has lived with pain and dysfunction, particularly musculoskeletal. With the help of some wonderful clinicians and a lot of self-advocacy, these have been linked to a number of conditions including hEDS/HSD, fibromyalgia, POTS, and PCOS. Like many with wide-ranging, inconsistent symptoms, Sarah struggled to get effective diagnoses and treatment due to not quite fitting into any one medical specialty and the lack of available diagnostic tests. Having lived with the daily impacts of her conditions, she is passionate about influencing the direction and effectiveness of medical research and education. Sarah’s goals through her consumer and professional work are to make sure that patients and their families have access to the information they need to make informed choices and effectively advocate for themselves, and that medical professionals are well supported to diagnose and treat complex, chronic, and often interplaying conditions so their patients can live full lives. Professionally, Sarah has founded a for purpose digital health education startup to reduce the anxiety children and families experience when undergoing medical experiences. She has also held executive roles in financial services, across product, technology, and marketing. As well as her lived experience, Sarah brings to her consumer work extensive expertise in effective communication development and delivery, community engagement, commercialisation of ideas, governance, and risk management.
