Sarah Bassett, PhD, MA

Dr. Sarah Bassett is the Research Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services minority-side staff under Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA). In this role, she leads the minority-side's research strategy to understand the qualitative and quantitative impacts of current and potential legislation, drives forward oversight and investigative work, and leads the committee's International Financial Institution (Multilateral Development Bank, International Monetary Fund) and Export-Import Bank portfolios.

Dr. Bassett holds a doctoral degree in Social Science and Health from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in health psychology from Brandeis University. In addition to her appointment as a Health and Aging Policy Fellow, she is a second-year disability policy research postdoctoral fellow at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Sarah's research has focused on how psychological well-being and strengths predict physical and psychological health among people living with chronic diseases (e.g., HIV, depression) or chronic stress (e.g., the stress of caring for someone with Alzheimer's Disease). During the first year of her postdoctoral fellowship, Sarah expanded her research to focus on predictors of health and well-being, and studied how safe and affordable housing affects physical and psychological health among people living with disabilities. She is passionate about health equity, particularly as it relates to social determinants of health, mental health, and access to care. Her long-term goal is to help improve people’s physical health and psychological well-being via thoughtful policy levers.