Women in Leadership Advisory Member

Sara Vetter

Active Term: 09/2025 - 09/2026

Areas of Expertise

• Work-Life Balance
  
• Mentoring and Building a Culture of Mentorship

Laboratory Director

Minnesota Department of Health

Dr. Sara Vetter is the Division Director of the Public Health Laboratory for the Minnesota Department of Health and has been at the MDH for 14 years. In her current role she oversees clinical laboratory testing in the infectious disease, newborn screening, and environmental laboratory sections. She also oversees the overall quality program for both clinical and environmental testing. Before her current role, Dr. Vetter served in the infectious Disease Laboratory as the supervisor of the Virology unit and the Manager of the Infectious Disease Section. Dr. Vetter has a BS and PhD in microbiology, and through her career has studied many infectious agents including anthrax and plague. She has been involved in many outbreaks of emerging diseases such as measles, variant influenza, and mpox, and served as an technical expert throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through her scientific training, Dr. Vetter has found a passion for leadership and coaching. She believes every single person in an organization is a leader and she enjoys the process of helping someone find their strengths and elements of their career that bring them joy.

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