Dr. Sarah Burgard

Biography

Sarah Burgard is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. She also serves as a Research Professor at the Population Studies Center and is a Research Affiliate at the Survey Research Center within the Institute for Social Research. Her research focuses on social stratification, aging, and health, leveraging population-based survey data to examine social factors affecting health disparities across different backgrounds. She has been involved in significant studies regarding the interplay between employment, health, and overall life course, particularly for socioeconomically marginalized groups. Her recent work has addressed how economic recessions impact career and health trajectories for adults. Burgard is a principal investigator for the 2020 Americans' Changing Lives Study, which gathers extensive retrospective life histories. She also leads the Michigan Recession Recovery Study, tracking the effects of the Great Recession on mental health and life events. Her contributions have been widely published in social health science journals, and she has collaborated with funding organizations such as NIH and various private foundations to support her research.

Research Interests