Student - College of Education

Growing up as an Austin native, Sara graduated from Southwestern University in Kinesiology and continued her education at The University of Texas at Austin, pursuing a Ph.D. in Health Education and Health Behavior. Sara is a graduate research assistant at the People, Health, and Place Lab and a student affiliate for the Texas Center for Equity and Promotion (TexCEP).

Sara's area of research focuses on the built environment in physical activity and health disparities. Her research interests are in physical activity for leisure and travel, walkability, and non-communicable disease prevention. Sara's research goals are to provide environmental access to healthy and sustainable living.

Deborah Salvo (Supervisor)
My research interests and expertise center in the reduction of spatial health disparities in access to environments that enable physically active lifestyles. Specifically, my work focuses on understanding the context-specific relations between the built environment and physical activity; documenting and ameliorating geospatial health disparities; and using and improving objective measures to quantify physical activity and geospatial exposures (social & built environment). I also lead capacity building efforts for the fields of physical activity, public health,...

Huang, YC., Zapien, V., Chen, Y., Le, S., Cumberbatch, A. & Valdez, C. (2025). Urban Spillover, Health Disparities, and Community Strengths in Small Towns in Central Texas. Healthcare, 13(5). https://www.mdpi.com/3199656. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13050501.

Texas New Scholar Fellowship, The University of Texas at Austin (2024 - 2025)

Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Graduate Fellowship, College of Education (2023 - 2024)

Sara Le