Sarah Combs RN, BA, BSN, MPH-Intl, PhD
A versatile multilingual global health expert and professional educator with proven skills in assessment of health institutions, projects and communities.

Sarah was recently the nurse consultant on a three-person team which conducted a mock survey to prepare Mouwasat Hospital for Joint Commission International accreditation; focused on care of patients, pharmaceutical services, quality assurance activities, emergency services.

From tie to time, Sarah accepts projects through the Emerging Markets Group, USAID Hospitals Capacity Assessment, Amman Jordan. In one recent project, she was the international nurse consultant on three-person team which carried out a full capacity assessment of six hospitals to determine their readiness for Joint Commission International accreditation. She also developed a comprehensive training strategy to address the hospitals’ readiness for international accreditation.  Three of those hospitals have since been accredited.

She has worked extensively in the Middle East and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where she researched and wrote Health Care Personnel in Colorado and USA, evaluated education in the USA, with comparisons for development of health care workforce in Saudi Arabia. She also performs grant reviews and evaluates proposed budgets, personnel, programs and theoretical service foundations.

In addition to her consulting experience, she is an Assistant Professor (Adjunct) at the University of Colorado Denver, College of Nursing. She also serves as a member of the Advisory Board at the Center for Global Health.

Her past experience with Rocky Mountain Survivors Center (RMSC), Director of Health Care Services, includes:
• Development and management of the RMSC and University of Colorado Denver-College of Nursing public health nursing practice for survivors of torture.  
• Supervision professional and paraprofessional staff, interns, volunteers, and students.
• Development of assessment protocols to determine the health care needs of survivors of torture.
• Development of collaborative effort with St Joseph Hospital Caritas Clinic to provide primary health care for survivors of torture; including training program for Caritas medical and paraprofessional staff.
• Development of network of community resources to address special needs of survivors of torture.
• Development of health education program with emphasis on gender-based health needs, community resources and empowerment of healthy lifestyles.
• Direction of a community needs assessment of the “Horn of Africa” community in Denver Metro area. Assessed Somali, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somali Bantu, and Oromo communities over 7 years' time.

While at King Fahad National Guard Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the Director of Patient Education, she:
• Conducted and wrote report "Needs Assessment in Patient Education for Primary Health Care"
• Conducted training programs on patient education for Family Practice medical residents
• Developed "A.S.K.", Seminars in Patient Education for Primary Health Care professionals.
• Developed tuberculosis data base and first contact tracing program for local population
• Hospital infection control nurse.

She also has experience with the Colorado State Department of Health, in Denver, Colorado.
While there, she was the Colorado Health Facilities Division Surveyor and a Certified HCFA (now CMS) Long Term Care Surveyor, where she conducted licensure surveys and investigated complaints in health facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis centers, and surgical centers, and served as a team coordinator for multi-professional teams composed of nurses, pharmacists, dieticians, etc..  In her capacity there, she developed and presented training programs for surveyors and facilities statewide for over 5 years.

In the 1980s, while at King Fahad Hospital & King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospitals, Al Baha & Riyadh, Sarah was the Saudi Arabia Director of Hospital Education, she administered and planned educational programs for professional and non-professional staff in a 350-bed hospital serving an isolated rural region. Initiated first patient education program.  Sarah transferred to Riyadh at request of company to become Director of Quality Assurance and prepare hospital for JCAHO inspection, which was successfully conducted.

Sarah is also associated with the Harvard Institute for International Development, and is a visiting lecturer at the School of Public Health, Harvard University. She is also a Training Coordinator at the USAID-funded Health Planning and Restoration Project, Chad.  She has worked as a member of three-person team helping re-organize Planning Unit in the Chadian Ministry of Health, located in N’Djamena, Chad, and evaluated health care services throughout Chad and conducted first national evaluation of available health personnel. As a part of that project, she designed seminars introducing nation-wide health information system and conducted workshops for directors of governmental and non-governmental organizations and clinical facilities at national and regional levels.  Her experience includes Project Management in both French and English.

Education:
• Ph.D., University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, School of Nursing. 2005.
• MPH in International Health, The Johns Hopkins University. 1984.
• BS in Nursing with Highest Honors, University of California at San Francisco. 1976.
• BA in Urban Studies with Departmental Honors, University of Puget Sound.1972. 

Honors and Awards:
• Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honorary Society
• Sigma Theta Tau, Honor Society of Nursing, Alpha Kappa-at-Large Chapter
• Judge’s Panel, Nebraska State Student Nurse of the Year
• Student Leadership Award for PhD class, UCHSC-SON
• Nightingale Award for Excellence in Caring, nominee
• Henrietta Loughran Scholarship for Academic Excellence and Leadership in Nursing, UCHSC

Sarah was a military nurse and held rank as Lieutenant j.g., Navy Nurse Corps, U. S. Navy Reserve

Sarah is a native speaker of English, fluent French and Spanish, beginning Arabic.  She has traveled to over thirty countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.