Well

Sarah Thebarge is a speaker and author who earned a master's degree in Medical Science from Yale. She was earning a master's in Journalism at Columbia University when she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27. After leaving everything behind with nothing but two suitcases to her name, she encountered a Somali refugee family on a train in Portland. Sarah developed a relationship with them, and over the next few months, while she taught the single Somali mom and her five daughters how to live in America, they taught her how to love and be loved again. Her memoir of that experience, The Invisible Girls, was named a World Magazine 2013 Notable Book. Sarah has practiced medicine internationally, spending three months at a hospital in Togo, West Africa, and one month in rural western Kenya, where she started a clinic for children who have lost their parents to AIDS. In addition to speaking to large assemblies, Sarah lectures on university campuses on the topics of International Aid, Health Communications and Public Health. She also leads a memoir-writing workshop, The Healing Power Of Your Story, for groups of all ages. Sarah is a spokesperson for Vanity Fair Lingerie's Women Who Do campaign, which features women who are making a positive difference in their communities. She is also a spokesperson for Compassion International. She currently lives and practices medicine in San Francisco.