Sarah Leighton is a PhD candidate in social psychology at the University of Arizona. She holds a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology and behavior from Cornell University and a master’s degree in the psychology of human-animal interaction from Purdue University. Her career focuses on the role of service dog partnerships in biopsychosocial outcomes for people with disabilities. From 2010-2021, she worked for the world’s largest service dog provider, Canine Companions. She is an Assistance Dogs International (ADI) Certified Service Dog Instructor and, in 2016, she was promoted to the leadership role of National Director of Training and Client Services. In 2021, recognizing a need to build the empirical evidence base underlying the service dog intervention, she joined the Organization for Human-Animal Interaction Research Education (OHAIRE) under Dr. Maggie O’Haire as a PhD student. Her research leverages a transdisciplinary approach to translate service dog partners’ lived experiences into actionable data. She is a University of Arizona One Health Research Fellow, a member of Psi Chi International Honor Society, and recipient of the 2024 APA/APAGS Award for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology.
