Dr. Sarah Rylance works at the World Health Organization headquarters as the Medical Officer responsible for Chronic Respiratory Diseases in the Non-communicable Diseases Department. Sarah graduated from Nottingham University Medical School (UK) in 2000, completed specialist training in Paediatrics and worked as a clinician for 20-years, including 8-years in sub-Saharan Africa. Her experiences as a doctor, researcher and teacher in Tanzania and Malawi have fuelled her passion to improve the prevention, diagnosis and management of chronic respiratory diseases, particularly in resource-limited settings, through integrated primary care approaches.

Sarah completed her PhD in Malawi (through Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine), exploring the interplay between chronic respiratory symptoms, lung function and air pollution exposure in both children and adults, and evaluating a task-shifting intervention to improve long-term asthma care.