Sara A. Baker, M.S.W., L.S.W.

Ms. Baker joined the Penn State College of Medicine as the Project Director for the Central Pennsylvania Center of Excellence for Research on Pregnancy Outcomes in July 2004. Previously, she served as Director of the Pennsylvania Department of Health's Bureau of Family Health and as the Executive Policy Specialist for Health and Human Services in the Governor's Policy Office. As Director of the Bureau of Family Health, Ms. Baker oversaw the state's federally funded Title V Maternal and Child Health and Children with Special Health Care Needs programming. The Bureau of Family Health housed more than 30 of the state's health-related programs. Examples of a few of these include the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) supplemental nutrition program, newborn screening and follow-up, newborn hearing screening, lead poisoning prevention and control, chronic renal disease, spina bifida, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell disease programs as well as the Special Kids Network. While in the Governor's Policy Office, Ms. Baker served as a policy liaison for health and human services policy work and decisions occurring in agencies under the Governor's jurisdiction, primarily including the Departments of Public Welfare, Aging, Health, Education, Corrections, Insurance, and Community and Economic Development. Ms. Baker was also the Co-Director of the Governor's Task Force on Early Childhood Care and Education while in the Governor's Policy Office.

Ms. Baker's background includes work in the field of child welfare. She has direct practice and policy experience in the areas of child protective services, adolescent pregnancy and parenting, and permanency planning. Ms. Baker has specific interests in foster care and adoption policy. Her background also includes direct practice and policy experience in the field of health promotion and disease prevention. In the area of HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and clinical service provision, Ms. Baker served as the Clinical and Education Director for AIDS Community Alliance, a multi-county AIDS service organization in Central Pennsylvania.
  
Ms. Baker holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Social Work degree from Temple University's School of Social Administration, and is a licensed social worker (L.S.W.) in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She also completed study in English literature at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Ms. Baker serves as a consultant and volunteers her clinical, program, policy, and planning expertise to not-for-profit health and human service organizations and community foundations in the Central Pennsylvania region.