Sarah Bliss Matousek

Assistant Professor, Public Health

Dr. Matousek has more than 20 years of healthcare, teaching and research experience, which includes strategic planning/implementation, change management, health policy implementation, data and analytics, quantitative and qualitative research, operations,...

Read Full Biography
Sarah Matousek, Ph.D.

Contact Information

  • Tuesday and Thursday (12pm-2pm):

    • 840 E Spokane Falls Blvd. (med school building)
    • Room 329 (in the human physiology office suite)

     

    Wednesday (12pm-2pm):

    • Tilford Centre Dean’s Office Room 407E

     

    Best ways to contact: Email is best.

  • (509) 313-4714

Education & Curriculum Vitae

Master of Public Health (2015), Boston University of Public Health (Boston MA), Concentration in Health Policy & Management

Doctor of Philosophy (2010), University of Rochester School of Medicine (Rochester, NY), Neurobiology & Anatomy

Bachelor of Science (2004), Houghton University (Houghton, NY), Biology with research honors, magna cum laude

Courses Taught

PUBH 340: Environment, Climate Change, and Health
PUBH 360: Global Health Issues and Strategies
PUBH 320: Epidemiology and Applied Biostatistics 
PUBH 310: Health Leadership and Management
PUBH 499: Public Health Practicum/Internship 

Dr. Matousek has more than 20 years of healthcare, teaching and research experience, which includes strategic planning/implementation, change management, health policy implementation, data and analytics, quantitative and qualitative research, operations, and program development. Sarah’s industry work has included a broad range of projects in multiple health care sectors with specific expertise in workforce design and funding, population health programs, health policy implementation, behavioral health models, and health related social needs.

Dr. Matousek’ s doctoral research at the University of Rochester centered around neuroinflammation in the brain and how it affects the pathologies in Alzheimer’s disease.  Her postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School followed the complement system in neurodevelopment and the aging brain.  Since moving into public health, she founded and still co-operates a surgical navigation program in rural Haiti and she sits on the board for Care 2 Communities, a non-profit organization providing primary care in Northern Haiti.

Dr. Matousek holds a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from Boston University of Public Health and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology & Anatomy from the University of Rochester School of Medicine. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Gonzaga University and an affiliate faculty member at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

  • Shi Q, Colodner KJ,Matousek SB,Merry K, Hong S, Kenison JE, Frost JL, Le KX, Li S, Dodart JC, Caldarone BJ, Stevens B, Lemere CA.Complement C3-Deficient Mice Fail to Display Age-Related Hippocampal Decline.J Neurosci. 2015 Sep 23;35(38):13029-42.

  • Matousek AC,Matousek SB, Addington SR, Jean-Louis R, Pierre JH, Fils J, Hoyler M, Farmer PE, Riviello R.The Struggle for Equity: An Examination of Surgical Services at Two NGO Hospitals in Rural Haiti.World J Surg. 2015 Sep;39(9):2191-7.

 

  • Rivera-Escalera F,Matousek SB, Ghosh S, Olschowka JA, O'Banion MK. Interleukin-1β mediated amyloid plaque clearance is independent of CCR2 signaling in the APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.Neurobiol Dis. 2014 Sep;69:124-33.

 

  • Matousek SB,Ghosh S, Shaftel SS, Kyrkanides S, Olschowka JA, O'Banion MK.Chronic IL-1β-mediated neuroinflammation mitigates amyloid pathology in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease without inducing overt neurodegeneration.J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2012 Mar;7(1):156-64.

 

  • Hein AM, Zarcone TJ, Parfitt DB,Matousek SB, Carbonari DM, Olschowka JA, O'Banion MK.Behavioral, structural and molecular changes following long-term hippocampal IL-1β overexpression in transgenic mice.J Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2012 Mar;7(1):145-55. doi: 10.1007/s11481-011-9294-3. Epub 2011 Jul 12.

  • Matousek SB,Hein AM, Shaftel SS, Olschowka JA, Kyrkanides S, O'Banion MK.Cyclooxygenase-1 mediates prostaglandin E(2) elevation and contextual memory impairment in a model of sustained hippocampal interleukin-1beta expression.J Neurochem. 2010 Jul;114(1):247-58.

 

  • Hein AM, Stasko MR,Matousek SB, Scott-McKean JJ, Maier SF, Olschowka JA, Costa AC, O'Banion MK.Sustained hippocampal IL-1beta overexpression impairs contextual and spatial memory in transgenic mice.Brain Behav Immun. 2010 Feb;24(2):243-53. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2009.10.002. Epub 2009 Oct 13.

 

  • Shaftel SS, Carlson TJ, Olschowka JA, Kyrkanides S,Matousek SB, O'Banion MK.Chronic interleukin-1beta expression in mouse brain leads to leukocyte infiltration and neutrophil-independent blood brain barrier permeability without overt neurodegeneration.J Neurosci. 2007 Aug 29;27(35):9301-9. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1418-07.2007.
  •  Fernanda-Levis M, Shadwick L, Levison, JH,Matousek SB. Primary Care Transformation in a COVID-19 World. Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care: Perspectives in Primary Care. 2020 July 1.Article Link.
  • Levis-Peralta, María, Antonio Llompart, María Cecilia Rodriguez, Marie Cynthia Sanchez, Antonio Sosa-Pascual,Sarah Bliss Matousek, and Rosemarie Day. 2016. Description of the State Health Care Environment: Puerto Rico State Health Innovation Plan. Rio Piedras: Puerto Rico Department of Health.
  • Matousek SB, Lehman-White N. Social Determinants: Working Upstream to Solve Health Problems Before They Start “The Affordable Care Act as a National Experiment: Health Policy Innovations and Lessons”. 2021. Springer.