Sara Bissell Rubin

About Sara Bissell Rubin

If you find yourself thinking about your pain consistently, please reach out. I am here to help. When pain takes over, the right approach can get you back in control of your life. Every approach works for some people; no approach works for everyone. I am a medical sociologist. I have a PhD from UCSF, where I studied how medical knowledge about pain gets produced and taken up. I bring the work of my doctorate to provide insights that pain patients are rarely guided toward. I also spent over a decade as a clinical bodyworker, and found that the body contains immense wisdom that can help us get through moments of contraction. With 20 years experience working in different fields related to persistent and chronic pain, I’ve seen it first hand, felt it firsthand, and identified evidence-based practices to shift your relationship with pain, giving you more ability to discern signal from noise. I offer individual sessions via Zoom or phone, providing personalized guidance, neuroscience-based education, and between-session support to help you navigate your pain care more effectively. I don’t provide medical care or psychotherapy. I don’t offer treatment as that word is generally used—I offer clarity. My work sits above medicine and therapy, helping people navigate the contradictions, gaps, and blind spots that make seeking pain care so overwhelming. I help fill gaps and bridge treatment modalities.

Experience

1. Lead Qualitative User Researcher

   Academia.Edu

   Aug 2020 — Present · San Francisco, CA, US

   Led research initiatives for the concept, launch, and scaling of two zero-to-one product initiatives, the success of which was pivotal in securing recent funding round *Elevated the role of research in the organization by demonstrating the company wide impact of early stage research in the product process, forming cross-functional partnerships, and aligning closely with business goals

Education

• University of California, San Francisco

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Social and Behavioral Sciences

  2013

• University of California, Davis

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Sociology