Sarah Varney covers health for KQED's statewide news programs The California Report and Health Dialogues.
She began reporting for KQED in 2002 and has covered a range of subjects and stories - from the ethics,
politics and science of stem cell research to the religious and legal challenges over gay marriage to the
inside workings of baseball park food vendors. As KQED's health reporter, Sarah looks at how decisions
about immigration, health care coverage and access, the environment, transportation and energy policy,
land use, education funding, business and agricultural practices, and other issues affecting the health
of Californians, especially the state's most vulnerable populations.
Sarah reports regularly for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Day to Day and All Things Considered.
Her work has been recognized by the Society for Professional Journalists, the Northern California Radio
and Television News Director Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. In 2003,
Sarah earned a commission from the Third Coast Audio Festival to produce an experimental soundscape presented
in Chicago.
Before joining KQED, Sarah was a senior consultant at a San Francisco-based strategy consulting firm, and
prior to that led the business development team at a startup market research firm. Sarah grew up in rural
New Hampshire and earned her B.A. in political science from Brown University. An avid traveler, Sarah has
trekked through East Africa, the Jammu and Kashmir region of India and the then-Soviet Union. She lives in
San Francisco with her husband, journalist Tad Whitaker.
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