Sara Israelsen-Hartley is a Research and Writing Fellow with the Government Performance Lab. In this role, she works with GPL policy teams to synthesize and spread key insights and promising solutions gained through their work with local and state governments. The GPL’s goal is that these shared findings will spark changes in government operations that ultimately lead to meaningful and measurable differences in people’s lives. 

Prior to the GPL, Sara completed a master’s degree at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy with a concentration in health policy. The MPP degree complements Sara’s 15 years as an award-winning journalist, during which time she reported on city government, criminal justice, and social and public health issues’ impacts on families. She is a former USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism National Fellow. Sara received her BA in Communications from Brigham Young University, and currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina with her family.