Dr. Sarah Chavez is a Saint Louis native. She studied at the University of Missouri – Columbia (Mizzou) earning a BS in Biochemistry in 2001. During her time at Mizzou, she worked in several labs, including one that studied transgenic corn and the Maize Genome Project, and another that worked on animal cloning and nuclear transfer (pigs). She also spent a semester abroad in Scotland, studying health care and history, and working in a laboratory at the Roslin Institute. She was lucky enough to work with Dr. Ian Wilmut and the team that cloned Dolly and learned about cloning technology firsthand. After graduation, Dr. Chavez worked in a vascular biology lab (studying aortic aneurysms) while deciding between medical or graduate school. Ultimately, she decided that she really loved teaching and writing, so she applied to graduate school at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Chavez completed her thesis work in circadian rhythms and photobiology in the Department of Ophthalmology, giving her a strong background in molecular biology and biomedical engineering. She finished her PhD in Molecular Cell Biology in 2007, and then did her post-doc research in breast cancer, where she worked on imaging modalities for monitoring tumor angiogenesis and lymph node metastases.  

Since 2008, Dr. Chavez has taught courses for WashU's Continuing and Professional Studies (formerly University College) in Problem-Based Learning in Biology, General Biology, Genetics, Cancer Biology, and Global Health. She has taught courses in Arts & Sciences Pre-College Programs since 2011.