Dr. Sara Hart

Biography

Sara Hart is a Professor and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Developmental Science at the University of Waterloo. She holds a BSc Hons. from Western University, an MS from Pennsylvania State University, and a PhD from Ohio State University. Her research focuses on personalized education and employs twin genomic methods to understand the complex interplay between genetic and environmental influences on child development. Sara's work explores how individual genetic variants can predict school achievement and responses to interventions. She is currently involved in a US-based national twin project, NatPAT, which examines genetic and environmental factors affecting the co-development of reading and math skills in elementary school children. Additionally, she investigates the short- and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on twins' reading and math development. Sara is committed to advancing openness in science and is working on a project to establish a data repository that will enhance access to data for researchers in developmental science. She has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.

Research Interests