With nearly a decade of executive experience, Sarah Boateng is a healthcare and public health leader nationally recognized for driving strategic innovation, advancing population health policy and leading transformative organizational change. Her expertise spans healthcare administration, public health strategy, stakeholder engagement and performance management.
Before joining Health Management Associates, Sarah served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during the Biden-Harris administration. In this role, she oversaw a $650 million budget and led more than 700 staff across multiple public health offices and advisory committees. Her leadership was instrumental in launching the HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity; organizing the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health; expanding the Title X Family Planning program, updating the Quality Family Planning guidelines; and publishing the National Research Action Plan on Long COVID and the Services and Supports for the Longer-Term Impacts of COVID-19, uniting over 20 external partners to address Long COVID and related chronic conditions.
As a healthcare and public health expert, Sarah has been at the forefront of some of the nation’s most pivotal public health moments. In addition to her work with HHS during the Biden-Harris administration, Sarah has served as the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s (PA DOH’s) executive deputy secretary during the Wolf administration and as a congressional staffer for former U.S. Sen. Robert P. Casey, Jr. She was an inaugural member of HHS’ AI Governance Board and Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Interagency Advisory Committee as well as an executive member of HHS’ Team Equity.
Sarah has a proven track record of developing strategies, implementing programs and engaging stakeholders to improve care quality and access. With HHS, she launched the national platform on Food Is Medicine, establishing guiding principles for federal policy on diet-related disease and supporting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) coverage of evidence-based interventions. She also facilitated creation of the Pennsylvania Rural Health Redesign Center to sustain the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model, an innovative global budget to enhance care delivery in rural communities.
Leveraging her strategic leadership skills, Sarah has demonstrated success acting as a change manager, prioritizing organizational culture, quality improvement and performance management. Sarah drove a major turnaround at the Pennsylvania Bureau of Health Statistics and Registries, reducing birth certificate processing times from 40 weeks to just five days. She led the PA DOH to full accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board, which required managed culture change among employees at all levels, and increased HHS’ employee satisfaction scores by 26 percent, through increased leadership engagement with staff, transparent procedures, and reduced staff vacancies.
Sarah earned her Master of Health Administration from Colorado State University. She has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Pittsburgh and a professional certificate in secondary education from Robert Morris University.
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