Scholarship and Biography

Sara Shostak is the Interim Academic Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Social Policy and Professor of Sociology and Health: Science, Society and Policy. From 2022-2025, she served as the inaugural director of the Vic ‘63 and Bobbi Samuels ‘63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT). Her research focuses on understanding the social production of health and illness across diverse contexts. Recent projects have explored how a wide variety of actors -- scientists and farmers, philanthropists and community organizers, people living with illness and healthcare providers -- perceive, experience, and act to transform the material conditions that shape health inequalities in the United States.

Honors

Agency for Health Care Policy and Research Health Services Research Traineeship, University of California, San Francisco, Institute for Health Policy Studies
University of California System (United States, Oakland), 1998-2000
Andrew Vincent White and Florence Wales White Fellowship in Medicine and the Humanities, University of California Humanities Research Institute
University of California System (United States, Oakland), 2000-2001
Graduate Student Fellowship, University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program
University of California System (United States, Oakland), 2001-2003
Dissertation improvement grant
National Science Foundation (United States, Arlington) - NSF, 2002
Anselm Strauss Award for a Distinguished Qualitative Dissertation, University of California, San Francisco
University of California System (United States, Oakland), 2003
Diana Forsythe Memorial Dissertation Award for Social Studies of Science, Technology & Health. Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
University of California System (United States, Oakland), 2003
Health & Society Scholar, Columbia University
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (United States, Princeton) - RWJF, 2004-2005
Health & Society Scholars Program Seed Grant for "Epilepsy Genetics: Ethical, Social, and Policy Dimensions"
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (United States, Princeton) - RWJF, 2005
Health & Society Scholars Program Seed Grant for "Genetics and Social Structure"
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (United States, Princeton) - RWJF, 2006
Teaching Enhancement Fund Grant (with Wendy Cadge and David Cunningham)
American Sociological Association (United States, Washington D.C.) - ASA, 2007
Research Grant
Epilepsy Foundation (United States, Landover) - EFA, 2007
Research Grant
National Science Foundation (United States, Arlington) - NSF, 2008
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Grant (with Wendy Cadge (PI) and Emily Sigalow)
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation (United States, Philadelphia), 2010
Research Grant
National Institutes of Health (United States, Bethesda) - NIH, 2012
Michael L. Walzer '56 Award for Teaching
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2013
Ruderman Social Justice in Disability Scholars Program (co-PI, with Susan Parish)
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2013
Davis Educational Foundation, Teaching and Learning Fellow
Davis Foundations (United States, Yarmouth), 2013-2014
Eliot Freidson Outstanding Publication Award, American Sociological Association, Medical Sociology Section
American Sociological Association (United States, Washington D.C.) - ASA, 2014
Robert K. Merton Book Award, American Sociological Association, Section on Science, Knowledge and Technology
American Sociological Association (United States, Washington D.C.) - ASA, 2014
Provost Research Award
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2015-2016
Teaching Innovation Grant
Brandeis University (United States, Waltham), 2015-2016
Grant for "Missions and Metrics in Urban Agriculture"
Merck Family Fund, 2017-2018
Elected to the Council
American Sociological Association (United States, Washington D.C.) - ASA, 2018-2021
Grant for "Holistic Evaluation in Urban Agriculture"
Merck Family Fund, 2019-2020
Sowing Seeds of Success Award
Urban Farming Institute of Boston, November 2023
Grant for “Building Climate Resilience via Collective Memory: An Oral History of Flooding in Waltham, MA” (with Sarah Mayorga and Rachel McKane)
Mass Humanities (United States, Northampton), 10/2024
Grant for "Seeding a Movement: The Food Project's Institute"
Merck Family Fund, 11/2025

Organizational Affiliations

Interim Academic Dean for the School of Social Sciences and Social Policy and Professor of Sociology and Health: Science, Society, and Policy, Department of Sociology, Brandeis University

Professor of Sociology and Health: Science, Society, and Policy, Health: Science, Society and Policy Program, Brandeis University

Affiliated Faculty, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

Affiliated Faculty, Department of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University

Affiliated Faculty, Environmental Studies Program, Brandeis University

Director, Vic and Bobbi Samuels '63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation, COMPACT: Vic ’63 and Bobbi ’63 Samuels Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation, Brandeis University

Director of the Community Engaged Scholars Program, School of Arts and Sciences, Brandeis University

Education

University of California, San Francisco
Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
M.P.H.
Reed College
B.A.