Elizabeth Sarma

Elizabeth Sarma, PhD, MPH, is a Program Director in the Health Systems and Interventions Research Branch (HSIRB) of the Healthcare Delivery Research Program.

Prior to joining the branch as a Program Director, Elizabeth was a Cancer Prevention Fellow working in HSIRB. Elizabeth’s research broadly focuses on early detection behaviors, including cancer screening and care-seeking for potential cancer symptoms. As a Cancer Prevention Fellow, Elizabeth’s research focused on better understanding psychosocial, sociodemographic, and healthcare delivery factors influencing the timeliness of diagnosis for symptomatic cancers. She is interested in defining and operationalizing cancer diagnostic pathways in the U.S., including identification and mapping of appropriate data, and in the development of multilevel strategies to promote earlier diagnosis of symptomatic cancers. She is also actively involved in promoting international collaborations to advance early diagnosis research.

Elizabeth earned her doctorate in Social Health Psychology from Stony Brook University. She also holds an MPH, with a concentration in Quantitative Methods, from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a BA in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, located in her hometown of London, Canada.