Research Staff Spotlight: Sara Trisha Yousuf, MPH
“I truly love my job,” says Sara Trisha Yousuf, MPH. “I love the babies, I love the moms, and I especially love my team.”
Sara is the Program Manager for the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study at CHLA—a national long-term study of brain and child development in the U.S. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, HBCD involves 25 sites and is led at CHLA by Pat Levitt, PhD, Jessica Wisnowski, PhD, and Beth Smith, PhD, DPT.
“I run all the operational pieces of the study at CHLA—from hiring and training staff to running study visits to handling contracts and Institutional Review Board requirements,” Sara explains. “But I also get to know every single mom and baby. It’s the best of both worlds.”
The study, which began last summer, will follow 7,500 pregnant women and their children for 10 years. At CHLA, many of the participants are Latino. “I feel strongly about giving communities of color a positive experience with research,” Sara says. “It’s important that they are part of this data.”
She adds that she is grateful for her “kind and compassionate” team—Fredda De La Torre, Viola Villamor, Gabriela Gomez, Emily Ward, Mercedes Landaverde, Giselle Reynoso and Jessica Ugalde. She is also thankful for her longtime mentor, Sajjad Yacoob, MD, whom she met during her college internship at CHLA. “He took me under his wing,” she shares. “I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”
After hours, Sara is a “big movie buff” and loves swimming and reading. Her recommendations? Check out “Hidden Figures” and the Netflix series “Heeramandi,” as well as the classic book, “A Suitable Boy,” by Vikram Seth.
