Sara Whiting

Sara Whiting provides scientific planning and oversight for ground-based spaceflight analog studies conducted by the Human Research Program (HRP). These studies include the Human Exploration Research Analog, as well as research involving head-down tilt bed rest, Antarctic, and parabolic flight platforms. 

Whiting previously served as the behavioral medicine discipline scientist for HRP’s Human Factors and Behavioral Performance element. She led several studies in NASA’s Behavioral Health and Performance Laboratory. Whiting’s areas of specialty include measurement approaches for individual cognitive and operational performance and developing and implementing behavioral health strategies that counter the effects of isolation and confinement in space.

Whiting received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Smith College and her master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Louisiana State University. She completed her clinical internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and her postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at Texas Children’s Hospital through Baylor College of Medicine. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in Texas.