Sara F. Stein

Sara F. Stein, PhD, LMSW, is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. She studies the intergenerational health impacts of trauma, examining how traumatic stress and structural inequities become embedded in women's health and parenting during pregnancy and early childhood, and how these experiences in turn shape young children's health and stress physiology. Her work integrates interdisciplinary, community-engaged and quantitative methods, drawing on daily diary, biomarker and longitudinal cohort designs, with the goal of translating mechanistic findings into trauma-informed, culturally grounded interventions.

Her work is supported by federal and foundation funding, including an NICHD R21 (R21HD116166; MPIStein/Galano) examining how maternal posttraumatic stress and racism intersect to shape parenting and child stress physiology in families of color, and an AmericanHeart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship (825916; PI Stein) investigating intergenerational transmission of trauma and obesogenic eating. She has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications.

Stein has more than 10 years of experience working as a clinical social worker providing trauma-informed psychotherapy to women, children and families, including through a program she developed for Spanish-speaking clients. She co-founded Tender Press Books, which provides free, empirically grounded clinical resources for children and families facing trauma. She earned her PhD in Social Work and Clinical Psychology from U-M.