Sara is a historian of science whose research uses the preserved, abnormal fetuses in the collection of 19th-century Dutch anatomist Willem Vrolik to investigate the intertwined histories of scientific embryology, midwifery, pregnancy, and disability over the long 18th century. Her doctoral research was supported by fellowships from the the Fulbright Program, the Science History Institute, the Council for European Studies, the Descartes Centre at Utrecht University, and the Smithsonian. Sara has published short fiction, appeared on several podcasts, and won the title “Philadelphia’s Best Storyteller” in 2017. The strangest chapter from her dissertation can be found in podcast form here on the Science History Institute’s Distillations.
Ph.D. Penn (History and Sociology of Science)
M.A. Columbia (Museum Anthropology)
B.A. The George Washington University (Anthropology)
“From Monsters to Malformations: Anatomical Preparations as Objects of Evidence for a Developmental Paradigm of Embryology, 1770-1850.” Journal of the History of Biology 55 (1): 35-57 (2022).
“How Careful She Must Be: Mothers, Midwives, and Monstrous Births,” Lady Science. 2019.
“Mothers of Monsters,” Nursing Clio series on Pregnancy Loss. October 10, 2018.