Sarah Lessem is a Senior Survey Director with nearly 20 years of experience in public health and survey research. As a project management professional (PMP®️) certified through the Project Management Institute, she manages technical aspects of survey projects, including client relations, contracts, budgets, schedules, risk management, and data collection logistics. Dr. Lessem is experienced in survey design, development, and operations, including writing and programming survey questions, testing instruments, interviewer training, overseeing instrument translations, data cleaning, and content redesign of large-scale national studies using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) and computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).
Dr. Lessem currently leads a team supporting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in the creation and production of a new Rapid Survey System using commercial web-based panels to obtain relevant, timely data that will help make decisions on new, emerging, and priority health topics. She is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the DC Chapter of American Association for Public Opinion Research.
