Sarah Axelson

Sarah leads the design and delivery of innovation-related activities for Breakthrough. She has over 15 years of experience in innovation and ASRH. After learning about the intersection of design and health, Sarah brought human-centered design (HCD) to Personal Responsibility Education grantees while serving as a project officer for the Family and Youth Services Bureau. She also participated in HHS Ignites, a highly competitive federal accelerator program designed to spur innovation in the federal sector. Sarah has published peer-reviewed articles on innovation in ASRH in Prevention Science, presented on innovation at state and national conferences, partnered with world-renowned design firm IDEO, and received training in HCD at the Stanford d.school. In addition to her full-time role with Power to Decide, Sarah is an adjunct faculty member and DrPH candidate at the George Washington University School of Public Health, where she teaches a course on Design Thinking in Public Health. When she isn’t working full-time or teaching, you can find her volunteering with something related to reproductive health and rights, daydreaming about new teaching/training tools and products (yes, that’s really what she daydreams about!), or hanging out with her partner and dog.